Power has been cut across Cuba in part as a result of Hurricane Ian, reports Lázaro Guerra, the technical director of the state-owned company responsible for Cuba’s electricity grid. State media said the power outage was caused by a failure in the national electricity system. The outage is said to have been partly caused by the hurricane, which raged over the island on Tuesday.
It is not clear what caused the malfunction. Guerra says they are working through the night to restore power.
Ian made landfall on Cuba’s west coast as a Category 3 hurricane on Tuesday, causing extensive damage to the island. Hundreds of thousands of residents were already dealing with power outages earlier in the day.
Cuba’s electricity grid is often down. As a result of the energy crisis, the government regularly decides to temporarily cut power to a large part of the island, sometimes for hours.
Hurricane Ian has now moved on and is expected to make landfall on the west coast of the US state of Florida on Wednesday evening local time. About 2.5 million residents have been ordered or warned to evacuate. US President Joe Biden met with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday evening to see how the Washington administration can help the state.