A powerful tornado left three dead and 172 wounded in Cuba

A powerful tornado hit several neighborhoods in Havana Sunday night, killing three people. injuring 172 and leaving part of the city between the rubble and in the dark.

"We visit places affected by a high-intensity atmospheric phenomenon in Regla [municipio de La Habana]. The damage is serious, we regret the death of three people and treat 172 wounded. Several brigades are already working on the restoration "said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

A little before, the official website Cubadebate He said that "Havana has suffered the onslaught of a large tornado that caused many human and material damage in several cities of the city", They stayed for hours in the dark.

"The strength of the tornado winds can be compared to that of a category 4 or 5 hurricane, although its impact is more targeted", added the portal.

During a visit to the capital of the island, journalists from the AFP They found several streets in the district of Luyanó, in the municipality of October 10, full of rubble.

Some pieces of balcony of buildings had yieldedwhile poles and fallen trees interrupted the tracks.

The mother-child hospital of Galician girls was evacuated due to damage to its facilities, noted an AFP reporter. The sirens howling in the city were constant, firefighters and ambulances moving for rescue operations.

Santos Suárez, Vía Blanca and Chibás were also affected.

"Strong tornado in Havana, it took me in the street, in the car, with my wife and children, and I had to avoid clumps, floods, strong winds until I could go back home. said the actor Luis Silva, "Pánfilo", who had contacts with Barack Obama during his visit to the island in 2016.

The tornado occurred in the middle of a storm that was already expected to touch the west of Cuba., with gusts up to 100 km per hour and a penetration of the sea. It lasted early Monday morning.

"Those on the island accustomed to these warnings did not suspect the magnitude of what would happen after eight o'clock in the evening"admitted the newspaper Granma, official communication agency of the government.

The specialist of the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet), Armando Caymares, explained to the official press that "People felt like the sound of a powered aircraft and the pressure changes of the environment."

Citizens shared images of flooded streets via social networks, of vehicles turned over and stuck to the walls or hit by poles. All in the middle of the penumbra.

In several neighborhoods, energy had already been reduced early as a precautionary measure.but it was replaced as conditions improved.

Meteorological experts explained that this phenomenon was due to an extratropical fall from the southeastern Gulf of Mexico to the west of the island.

"In addition to this tornado, wind gusts cause damage to public facilities and the residential sector, while light flooding occurs in various areas of the dike and other low-lying coastal areas", detailed Alarm clock

Due to the wind, the Malecon waters in Havana went wild and penetrated a few meters from the city.

The western regions of Cuba affected are the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa and Mayabeque. The storm was heading towards the center of the country, but with less intensity, according to specialists.

According to Insmet, the pbadage of tornadoes in the Cuban capital is not a daily phenomenon. One of the most memorable is that of December 26, 1940 which touched the city of Bejucal.

In 2017, eThe powerful hurricane Irma punished 12 of the 15 Cuban provinces, resulting in losses of $ 13,185 million, with damage to homes, health care facilities, schools, hotels, power grids and crops.

(With information from AFP)