Cuba’s Civil Defense issues alert on heavy rains

Havana, Jun 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuba's Civil Defense (DC) on Wednesday issued the first early warning due to the presence of an extensive area of low pressure and remnants of Tropical Hurricane Agatha.

On its Twitter account and coinciding with the beginning of the hurricane season today, the agency called to “pay attention to possible damage to the national territory.”

The Civil Defense’s press release, issued at 10:00 hours, local time, pointed out that according to information from the forecast center at the National Institute of Meteorology (Insmet), a tropical or subtropical cyclonic development is possible in the next 24 to 48 hours.

It adds that the most significant for Cuba will be the extensive cloudy areas with heavy and intense rains that will begin affecting the western and central regions of the country on Thursday, with the possibility of extending for several days.

It warned that due to the persistence of rainfall in previous days, attention should be paid to this hydro-meteorological situation, due to the saturation of soils, mainly in low and poorly drained areas.

The DC advises managing agencies in western and central Cuban provinces and the population to remain attentive to Insmet’s information on the development of this event and to increase hydro-meteorological surveillance.

It also called to take into account the current epidemiological situation and in this sense to emphasize the control of hygienic and sanitary measures.