Sawt Falasteen - Hurricane Rafael triggers nationwide blackout in Cuba

"Strong winds caused by the major hurricane Rafael caused the shutdown of the national electricity system," the Union Electrica company wrote on X.

Rafael strengthened to a major Category 3 hurricane as it raced towards the Caribbean island of 10 million people, eventually making landfall in the west at about 2115 GMT, according to the National Hurricane Center in the United States.

The NHC said that Rafael was located 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) southwest of Havana and packing winds of about 115 mph (185 kph).

It said Rafael was expected to bring "a life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds amd flash flooding to portions of western Cuba."

It is expected to weaken slightly as it crosses the communist-ruled island but remain a hurricane as it emerges over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

A tropical storm warning is in effect in the Florida Keys.

Nine of Cuba's 15 provinces, including Havana, home to two million people, have been placed on cyclone alert.

Wednesday's blackout comes two weeks after a four-day nationwide electricity outage caused by the failure of the cash-strapped island's biggest power plant and a shortage of fuel to produce electricity.

That initial blackout coincided with the passage of Hurricane Oscar, which killed eight people in Cuba.

- Tens of thousands evacuated -

More than 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes in advance of Rafael's approach, according to local media.

The office of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Tuesday that it was mobilizing the military to help respond to the storm.

"We have activated the National Defense Council to provide the maximum attention to the passage of Hurricane Rafael," Diaz-Canel said in a post on X.

"Measures have been taken in each place to protect our people and material resources. As we have always done since the revolution, we will overcome this situation."

In Havana, state television showed workers clearing drains, collecting garbage and cutting back trees to prepare for the hurricane.

In the village of Alquizar, about 50 kilometers southwest of Havana, Liset Herrera, 57, said Wednesday she had been unable to follow the news about Rafael "because there is no electricity."

Further south, in the coastal village of Ganimar, Marisol Valle, a 63-year-old farmer, came home briefly to collect some belongings.

"There didn't appear to be a soul left" after the villagers had been evacuated, she said.

The US State Department warned citizens against travel to Cuba.

O.Salim--SF-PST