Images of the devastating tornado that struck Cuba and left three dead and 172 wounded

A powerful tornado that struck Havana Sunday night in Cuba killed three people, injured 172 and destroyed dozens of homes.

"It was around nine in the evening, everyone felt a noise, as if it was a transformer that had exploded." The light started to blink (…) The noise was closer, then we felt the breath of air, as if stones were falling, it was hail, and I have the feeling that the things started to fall, I raised the entire roof and carried everything away, "he says. Canaima Hernández, 36 years old.

The hospital Materno Infantil Hijas de Galicia has been evacuated due to damage to its facilities. | AFP

The house of Canaima is in Regla, one of the municipalities of Havana more affected by the tornado. It was uninhabitable. "When we felt the breath of air that I did, I caught my daughter and we bent into my kitchen," she says between sobs.

Regla's neighbors woke up Monday to try to save their belongings among the overturned cars, the fallen walls, the crossed poles in the streets and the remains of zinc roofs and woods.

After a dark night, the morning sun began to sneak through the gray clouds that still crowned the Cuban capital after the storm.

The tornado appeared in the middle of an expected storm | AP

At dawn, President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited the city to oversee the rescue operations. "The damage is serious, we regret so far the death of three people and treat 172 wounded."How did he.

The official website Cubadebate said that "Havana has suffered the onslaught of a large tornado that caused extensive material and human damage in several cities of the city", which remained several hours in the dark.

"People felt like the sound of a jet powered aircraft and changes in environmental pressure," said a specialist | AP

"The strength of tornado winds can be compared to that of hurricane category 4 or 5, although its impact is more targeted, "added the portal, the damage was not yet officially quantified.

Several streets in the district of Luyanó, in the municipality of 10 de Octubre, were full of rubble. Some of the balconies in the buildings had given way, while rails and fallen trees were cutting the tracks.

This is due to an extratropical fall that descended from the southeastern Gulf of Mexico | AP

The Mother Girls Hospital of Galicia, located in this city, was evacuated due to damage to its facilities. The screams of the sirens in the city were constant, firefighters and ambulances performing rescue operations.

Santos Suárez, Vía Blanca and Chibás were also affected. Rescuers with trucks and forklifts spent the morning picking up debris and trying to clean the affected roads.

The wind caused the waters of the Havana jetty and penetrated a few meters from the city | AFP

The tornado occurred in the middle of a storm that had already hit western Cuba. bursts of up to 100 km / h and penetration of the sea. It was heading towards the central area of ​​the island but with less intensity.

"The inhabitants of the island used to these warnings did not suspect the magnitude of what would happen after eight o'clock in the evening," admitted the newspaper Granma, official organ of the government.

In 2017, powerful hurricane Irma punished 12 of the 15 Cuban provinces. | AFP

The Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) specialist, Armando Caymares, explained to the official press that "the people felt like the sound of a jet-powered aircraft and changes in environmental pressure"

In several neighborhoods the energy was cut early as a precaution, but it was replaced as the conditions improved.

The pbading of tornadoes by the Cuban capital is not a daily phenomenon. | AP

Meteorological experts explained that this phenomenon was due to an extratropical fall from the south-east of Gulf of Mexico and entered by the west of the island.

AFP

"In addition to this tornado, gusts of wind were reported, causing damage to public facilities and the residential sector, with minor floods occurring in several areas of malecon and other low-lying coastal areas," detailed Radio Reloj.

The damage was not yet officially quantified. | AFP

The wind provoked a violent attack on the Malecon waters of Havana and a penetration of a few meters in the city. The western regions of Cuba affected are the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa and Mayabeque.

Lifeguards with trucks and forklifts spent the morning picking up debris and cleaning the affected roads. | AFP

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.

Santos Suárez, Vía Blanca and Chibás were also affected. | AP

In 2017, the 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.