Cuba suffered a nationwide blackout on Wednesday as Hurricane Rafael brought winds of up to 185km/h (115mph) to the Caribbean island.
The incident report disclosed that at least 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the category three storm made landfall on Wednesday with warnings of storm surges, flash flooding, and mudslides.
This comes just weeks after millions were left without power for four days following a blackout caused by issues with the country’s creaking energy infrastructure; an incident which coincided with Hurricane Oscar, killing at least six people.
The spokesperson for the state-owned energy company, Unión Eléctrica, said engineers would have to wait for the storm to pass over the island before they could assess its impact on power plants and the grid more generally.
Authorities added that the storm would continue to bring heavy rains across western Cuba through Thursday and that storm surges could pose a danger to life.
It noted that heavy rains are also expected in the Cayman Islands, while a tropical storm warning is in force in the Florida Keys.
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