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People look at a flooded street from a house in Havana, on June 3, 2022 The remnants of Hurricane Agatha cause intense and persistent rains this Friday in the western and central provinces of Cuba.
YAMIL LAGE/AFP
Heavy rains from the remnants of Cyclone Agatha, which hit several provinces and the capital of Cuba this Friday, have left at least one dead, one missing, one person injured and thousands of inhabitants without electricity, reported the authorities.
“Strong and intense rains and electrical storms have been affecting the western and central regions of Cuba with accumulations greater than 200 millimeters, which will continue for the rest of the day.” “Today and tomorrow, Saturday”, predicted at the Cuban Institute of Meteorology (Insmet).
It is the remains of Agatha, the hurricane that hit Cuba. the Pacific coastsin the south of Mexico, and that when it went out to the Atlantic it became in “possible tropical cyclone One”, according to the Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
Areas of the Cuban capital suffered heavy flooding such as Old Havana and Centro, where a 69-year-old man years old and another turned out injured, reported the state news portal Cubadebate.
State media images showed rescuers in areas of Central Havana evacuating people in canoes.
In a meeting to assess the damage and coordinate actions, chaired by the prime minister of the Republic, Manuel Marrero Cruz, was informed that 40 landslides have been recorded in the capital and that 398 inhabitants were evacuated, while 1,836 decided to leave their homes to take shelter.
While 7% of the people in the province of Havana are affected by damage to the electrical service, that is, 50,000 users, he added.
In the western province of Pinar del Río, where also flooding was recorded, a passer-by fell He went to a swollen stream and according to neighbors he was unable to reach it. get out of the water, state media reported.
The rains “have produced floods in towns from Pinar del Río (western extreme) to Sancti Spíritus (Center) and in the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality (south of Havana),” said Insmet.
The agency requested “Continue paying attention to the hydrometeorological situation in each territory”, due to the saturation of water in the ground due to the rains.
According to the Hurricane Center, ” One” It has maximum winds of 65km/h and is traveling at a rate of 7km/h in its translation, so it is expected to reach the central portion of the Florida peninsula on Saturday.< /p>
The hurricane season starts every year on June 1and ends on November 30, for the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean area.
The seasonal forecast issued by the Institute of Meteorology indicates the formation of n of 17 tropical cyclones this season, a projection higher than the historical average of 14 between 1991 and 2020.