After 35 years working for the province of Pinar del Río’s Empresa Eléctrica, Pedro Jesús Rodríguez has lost count of the number of times he has joined recovery efforts following a weather event. Therefore, he is one of those who are working tirelessly to restore the provincial power grid damaged by the tropical storm Idalia.

Hurricane Idalia continues to strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico as it moves away from Cuba, according to Warning No. 6 issued by the Institute of Meteorology.

Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, checked the work under way in this city after the passage of Hurricane Idalia.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged that immediate action should be taken to fix the damages caused by Hurricane Idalia, not without praising the good work done so far given the experience and ability of the country’s Civil Defense system.

Electricity workers in western Pinar del Rio province are taking action aimed at reestablishing the local power supply system affected in several areas of this territory by the recent passage of tropical storm Idalia, which developed into a hurricane as it left Cuba October 29.

Miguel Diaz-Canel, First Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party Central Committee and Cuban President regretted the passing of Chilean communist leader Guillermo Teillier at 79 and described him as a compatriot of our Americas, like Salvador Allende and Fidel Castro.

Roberto Morales Ojeda, secretary of organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, mourned today the death of Guillermo Teillier, president of the Communist Party of Chile, at 79.

Major General Ramon Pardo Guerra, chief of the National General Staff of the Civil Defense, checked today the actions being carried out in the Sandino municipality, in the province of Pinar del Rio, in the face of the impact of Hurricane Idalia.

Due to the speed of maximum winds averaged in just one minute, tropical storm Idalia in the early hours of this morning became a hurricane category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of a maximum of five, and thus increased its scourge in western Cuba.

The Cuban Electrical Company (UNE by its Spanish acronym) reported that 129 megawatts (MW) are affected this morning due to the passage of Hurricane Idalia, 54 of them in the province of Pinar del Rio and 75 in Artemisa.

The Temporary Working Group created in the province of Sancti Spiritus before possible heavy rains associated with hurricane Idalia, warned in this city the main measures to be taken to minimize the effects that could cause these precipitations.

The Cuyaguateje River, Pinar del Rio's main waterway, has burst its banks and has already cut off several towns in the municipality of Guane, as a result of the rainfall associated with the now Hurricane Idalia.

The Institute of Meteorology reported in its Tropical Cyclone Warning No.14 that during the early hours of this morning Idalia gained in organization and intensity while over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, becoming the third hurricane of the current hurricane season.

Cuba’s National Civil Defense chief, Division General Ramon Pardo Guerra called on the people in the western province of Pinar del Rio to abide by the rules and not to take any risks during the impact of storm Idalia.

The Institute of Meteorology reported that Tropical Storm Idalia keeps moving northward at a slow 11 km/h with heavy rains, high winds and a minimum pressure of 989 hP.