Cuban easternmost province is gradually returning to daily life after hurricane Oscar

 HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 29 (ACN) With the resumption of the school year on Monday in the municipalities of Guantanamo that were not severely affected by Hurricane Oscar, that province is gradually returning to its daily life.

This was learned during the daily check-up on the recovery process in this territory, carried out by the country's leadership, led by the First Secretary of the Party's Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez.

In Maisi, Baracoa, Imias and San Antonio del Sur, however, children, adolescents and young people will return to the classrooms next Monday; the educational institutions in the area were among the most damaged by the onslaught of the rains brought by cyclone Oscar, but work is being done without delay to create the conditions for the return to classes.

The meeting was led by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz; it was also headed by Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Party's Central Committee, and Salvador Valdes Mesa, Vice President of the Republic, all members of the Political Bureau.

The governor of Guantanamo, Alis Azahares Torreblanca, informed that several hundreds of people are still being protected and conditions are being created for their return home, with cleaning and sanitation, or temporary shelter solutions.

In a preliminary way, since it has not yet been possible to reach some isolated communities due to the state of the access roads, more than 10,500 houses in the province are reported to have been damaged to a greater or lesser extent, and work is being carried out expeditiously at the work tables to attend to the people whose homes have been damaged.

In the state area, there are more than 500 institutions with construction damages, mainly in the education and commerce sectors; more than 140 schools have already been recovered.

Of the almost 60 kilometers of roads that were devastated, about two have been rehabilitated, but intensive recovery work is being carried out, including the undermining of factory works, especially in Imías and San Antonio del Sur. However, more and more passages are opening up to the settlements in the far east.
Regarding the La Farola Viaduct, she reported that two collapses of greater magnitude have been declared, among other damages, something that had never happened in its more than 60 years of operation.

Electricity is beginning flowing to the towns and communities. Late Monday afternoon, in San Antonio del Sur the service was close to 97 %, although it has not been possible to restore it in intricate areas that are still difficult to reach by land.

In Imias the return of power is at 47.5 %; 50 % of the municipality is expected to be covered shortly. The historic center of Baracoa is supplied to 98 % of the clients; although the entire municipality is at 63 %. In Maisi, 72.8 % of the customers were supplied with electricity by late afternoon on Monday.
Overall, the province of Guantanamo had service to just over 67 % of its customers. The governor of the province indicated that the main damage to the network is in the fallen poles, about thirty of them broken.

The water supply in the province is at 63 %, with five pumping systems with breaks and more than 20 stopped due to lack of electricity; therefore, in areas of the affected zones the liquid is being transported and bottled water is being distributed.

Alis Azahares Torreblanca explained that one of the main limitations being faced in the municipalities shaken by Oscar is the loss of more than 6,800 mattresses; work is being done with industries in the territory to repair beds.

The governor of Holguin, Manuel Franciso Hernandez Aguilera, informed in the check-up of the recovery actions due to the passage of cyclone Oscar and the heavy rains in the north-eastern region, especially in the municipality of Moa.

Monday was a day with little rain; in Moa and in areas of the dams and the bypass of the region, rainfall was around 30 millimeters, he said. He explained that in Moa a group of people are still evacuated in anticipation of the effects that could be caused by the rains in the mountains.

As for Cyclone Oscar, he said that 37 houses have been damaged, mainly due to partial loss of roofs, but the province has the resources to solve it. The greatest damage, he said, is in eight buildings of the so-called “Czech houses”, with 64 homes, mainly in one of the buildings.


ATTENTION TO THE WEATHER SITUATION IN THE CARIBBEAN.

PhD in Sciences Celso Pazos Alberdi, general director of the Institute of Meteorology, reported at the meeting on the hydrometeorological situation in eastern Cuba and the weather conditions that are being generated in the southwest of the Caribbean.

He explained that in the area and eastern Cuba, the general conditions of clouds, showers and rains are still being maintained. He clarified, however, that the trough that was affecting us and that had remained stable, has been reactivated due to the current weather conditions, so strong levels of cloudiness are expected in the north and southeast.

He also commented that in the last 24 hours high accumulated rains have been reported in certain areas of Guantanamo, such as in Gran Tierra, Maisi, where between Sunday morning and Monday morning accumulated rainfall of 142 millimeters was reported; and in Sabaneta, municipality of El Salvador, it exceeded 64 millimeters. During the day on Monday in Jamal, 39.7 millimeters of rain were reported.

All this, Pazos Alberdi argued, creates conditions of high probability of rainfall on Tuesday; not only on the north coast, but also in the interior of the municipalities affected by Oscar and in a general sense in all the eastern provinces.

The Director General of the Meteorological Institute also informed about the conditions that are developing in the southwest Caribbean Sea, with high probabilities of generating an area of low pressure in the next few days. However, he emphasized, it is too early to create a cone of probabilities, since different forecast centers are giving very different variables.

First Colonel Luis Angel Macareño, second chief of the National Civil Defense General Staff, pointed out that now it is necessary to monitor the rain that may occur in the coming days.
(Taken from the Presidency of Cuba)