President Miguel Díaz-Canel asked to put the preservation of people above all else. With his military uniform, he presided from Havana, the National Defense Council that coordinates the preparations.
“We want to once again insist on the magnitude of this event, on the population’s necessary understanding of the risk posed by” the intensity of its winds above 260 km per hour, the President warned in a televised message addressed to the country.
“We once again ask our entire population to locate themselves in safe areas to face this hurricane.”
Under torrential rain and loaded with their belongings, the residents of Playa Siboney and surrounding towns were evacuated in trucks and military vehicles.
In Cañizo, another nearby town, Dr. Lisania Sánchez, local delegates and soldiers went house to house trying to convince families to leave.
“The order was to evacuate all the inhabitants” of coastal towns, said this doctor in a hurry.
Military personnel and volunteers carried elderly people in their arms from their homes to the transports prepared for their evacuation. Others were transported in improvised furniture due to the lack of wheelchairs.
Among dense vegetation, families walked along narrow, slippery paths through the mud to find themselves in safe places, far from the coast and their homes, many built with wood or zinc sheets.
Visibly distraught, some crying, they crowded onto overcrowded buses taking them out of the area. Holding on to the railings they squeezed their bags with few belongings.
In Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city in the country, marathon days of pruning trees and cleaning drains and sewers were held since Monday. The harvesting of near-term crops, the evacuation of livestock and the protection of buildings were also accelerated.
The people of Santiago ran to stock up on non-perishable food, candles, batteries and everything that could help face the hurricane.
“We have bought bread, spaghetti, mincemeat. This cyclone is bringing them, but we are going to get out of this,” English teacher Graciela Lamaison, 59, tells AFP.
“You have to have hope, you have to have strength, you have to have faith.”
Fuel and electricity outages are expected. Residents filled jerry cans and buckets before water pumping was interrupted, following the official announcement to cut off the power once winds exceed 60 kilometers per hour.
In the city’s main park, silence replaced the usual bustle.
Two powerful hurricanes, “Rafael” and “Oscar”, hit western and eastern Cuba in October and November of last year, causing eight deaths and extensive material damage.
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