Key Points
- Cuba's electrical grid has collapsed, leaving the entire country in the dark.
- Hurricane Ian has left a path of destruction in its wake.
Cuba's electrical grid has collapsed, leaving the entire country in the dark after Hurricane Ian ploughed through the western end of the island leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
The sprawling category three hurricane was barrelling north towards the Dry Tortugas, off the Florida Keys, late on Tuesday, with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Cuba's electrical grid - decades-old and in desperate need of modernisation, has been faltering for months with blackouts an everyday event across much of the island.
But officials said the storm had proven to be too much for the system, provoking a failure that shut off the lights for the island's 11.3 million people.
A damaged welcome sign in San Juan y Martinez, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba, after the passage of Hurricane Ian, on September 27, 2022. Source: Getty / Adalberto Roque
"There is no electricity service in any part of the country right now."
He said the union would work through the night and into Wednesday to restore power as soon as possible.
The hurricane hit Cuba at a time of dire economic crisis. Blackouts and long-running shortages of food, medicine and fuel are likely to complicate efforts to recover from Ian.
Ian made landfall in Cuba's Pinar del Rio Province early on Tuesday, prompting officials early on to cut power to the entire province of 850,000 people as a precautionary measure and evacuate 40,000 people from low-lying coastal areas, according to local media reports.
A girl lies on a bed at her flooded home in Batabano, Cuba, on September 27, 2022, during the passage of hurricane Ian. Source: Getty / Yamil Lage
Violent wind gusts shattered windows and ripped metal roofs off homes and buildings throughout the region, where many houses are decades old and infrastructure is antiquated.
Roads into the areas directly hit by the hurricane remained impassable, blocked by downed trees and powerlines.
A utility pole lies on the street in Consolacion del Sur, Cuba, on September 27, 2022, during the passage of hurricane Ian. Source: Getty / Adalberto Roque/AFP
By 8pm local time, it appeared that virtually all of the city was without power, with only some of the larger tourist hotels still lit by generators.
Further north, in Florida, residents and officials were hunkering down in anticipation of what the NHC called a "large and destructive hurricane".
Self-employed worker Alberto Naranjo shows his house destroyed by Hurricane Ian, in San Juan y Martinez, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba, on September 27, 2022. Source: Getty / Adalberto Roque/AFP
A hurricane warning has been extended to portions of far southwestern Florida as the storm's path veered slightly from previous predictions.
The storm surge along Florida's Gulf Coast could cause devastating to catastrophic damage with some locations potentially uninhabitable for weeks or months, the service warned, urging residents to move to safe shelter before the storm's arrival.
