Hurricane Idalia causes several damages in western Cuba

Hurricane Idalia today caused multiple damages in western Cuba, where showers, rains and thunderstorms associated with the hurricane continue.

In the province of Pinar del Rio were reported damages to the electrical system, heavy rainfall, sea penetrations, falling trees and more than 800 people have been evacuated, according to the digital version of Granma newspaper.

The chief of the National General Staff of the Civil Defense, Major General Ramón Pardo, visited the evacuation center in the municipality of Sandino and talked with the 63 families evacuated there.

In the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, more than 200 people took refuge in the homes of relatives and neighbors due to the penetration of the sea and the strong winds.

Hurricane Idalia maintains a northerly course with an increased speed of 22 kilometers per hour.

Its maximum sustained winds increased to 120 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts, making it a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of a maximum of five.

On the eve, Cuba’s Civil Defense General Staff established the Cyclonic Alarm for Pinar del Río, as well as in Artemisa and Isla de la Juventud.

Likewise, it decreed the Alert phase for Mayabeque and Havana (west), and oriented the demarcations of central Cuba to remain alert to the evolution of this cyclonic organism and to adopt the necessary measures, according to the particular situation of those territories.