More than nine thousand people evacuated due to rains in Cienfuegos

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, May 29 (ACN) Some 9,080 people have been evacuated to date in the province of Cienfuegos, due to the intense rainfall, flooding and bursting of rivers banks caused by the passage of the subtropical storm Alberto.

Marilyn Hernandez Ferrer, vice president of the Provincial Evacuation Commission in this territory, told ACN that of that number only 209 Cienfuegos took refuge in the established shelters, while 8,873 stayed with family, friends and neighbors.
She said that among those housed there are 40 children with all the conditions of food and lodging, as well as guaranteed health conditions.
The municipalities with the highest number of evacuees are Aguada de Pasajeros with 4,069 people, Cumanayagua with 641, Abreu and Rhodes with more than 500 each, while in the provincial capital the figure is 488, explained the officials.
Among the centers listed for accommodation are college and technological and polytechnic schools in the province,
In Cienfuegos in the last few hours, rainfall has registered more than 170 millimeters in the pluviometers, which isolated several settlements and communities in the mountainous area of Cumanayagua and in Aguada de Pasajeros, where the highest volumes of rainfall are reported.
Also in a recent report by Pablo Fuentes, the province's water resources delegate, the six reservoirs are 109.6 percent full and all alleviate excess water.
The Cienfuegos people remember that 30 years ago, after a similar situation, a great flood occurred in the lower part of the city, due to the overflowing of the El Inglés river, with loss of life and resources.
For this reason, they remain alert to the orientations of the Provincial Defense Council and to the information of the Meteorological Institute.