Preliminary reports of damages from Tropical storm Elsa in Granma Province

Early reports show that Tropical Storm Elsa have caused damage to agricultural areas in the Cuban eastern province of Granma, mainly banana crops in the coastal municipality of Pilon, as well as strong winds and rains that may still cause flooding due to runoff from the mountains.

Late Sunday afternoon, a tour of the Municipal Defense Council of the aforementioned locality reported excessive humidity and other damages in banana plantations of the Celia Sanchez Cooperative Basic Production Unit, in the area of Marea del Portillo.

According to data provided by Marbelis Campos Busquet, delegate of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources in the eastern territory, the Cilantro dam, also in Pilón, registered so far 121.6 millimeters of rainfall in four hours, which increased to 70 percent of its total filling capacity.

During last night and early Monday morning, specialists from the management post of the Empresa de Aprovechamiento Hidráulico de Granma maintained special monitoring and control over the state of the reservoirs, in view of possible spills due to abundant rainfall that could be reported in the mountains.

In a visit to affected places of the southern coast, accompanied by Federico Hernández Hernández, president of the Provincial Defense Council, journalist Mailenis Oliva Ferrales highlighted the occurrence of strong winds in the community of Cabo Cruz, where gusts reached 100 kilometers per hour.

Hernández Hernández pointed out that the rain also affected other regions, including the mountainous area, for which reason the vigilance on probable flooding of rivers and landslides continues.