The Situation:

The rains in central Cuba have ceased for the time being, after causing two deaths and the evacuation of thousands of people; the authorities are still assessing the damages. The affected provinces are now undertaking recovery efforts.

The province of Sancti Spiritus, located 348 kilometers east of Havana is the most affected province. The local media has reported more than 8,500 people have been evacuated and rivers and dams have reached 98% of their capacity.

Local authorities reported as "flooded" more than 3,000 hectares of various crops with important damages in sugar cane fields and losses in crops of tobacco, coffee and urban agriculture.

A delegation headed by the First Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces toured the area and assessed the damage to infrastructure as the Zaza River bridge, where traffic has been interrupted on the central highway linking eastern and western Cuba. Traffic has been rerouted to the north road.

Telecommunications and electric services achieved progress in the recovery of damages, while the roadways remain in adverse situation with damaged bridges, culverts and more than 40 km of the main roads in the affected area.

Preliminary assessment:

• More than a thousand homes have been damaged or destroyed and more than 3,300 hectares of farmland is under water as per the preliminary assessment of damage caused by heavy rains in recent days in central Cuba, where more 8,000 people remain evacuated.
• Some 1,156 homes were reported as damaged, while 47 considered totally destroyed.
• The local authorities are still verifying losses in agriculture, as heavy rains flooded 3,356 hectares of various crops, sugarcane, rice, coffee and tobacco.

The Forecast:

No more rains have been reported since Friday . However, the forecast indicates continued rains in the central and western region and recommends attention due to saturated soils.

Action by the UN System

The UN System has not received any request for assistance from the Government of Cuba.

Information:

For further information, please contact the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba.
Jose Luis DiFabio – CR a.i. difabioj@cub.ops-oms.org
Sonsoles Ruedas- UNETE Coordinator sonsoles.ruedas@wfp.org
Miguel A. Barreiro – Asistente Especial CR miguel.barreiro@one.un.org