About 168,900 folks have been evacuated in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-most populated province, as Hurricane Melissa approaches, in line with Cuban officers.
Authorities are prioritizing high-risk areas within the province, together with coastal and mountain communities, settlements close to rivers, and areas downstream of reservoirs, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, stated.
On Tuesday afternoon, police introduced a curfew within the provincial capital, telling folks to remain indoors till the storm passes.
Santiago de Cuba, one among 5 Cuban provinces beneath a hurricane warning, is anticipated to expertise the worst circumstances from Tuesday night time to Wednesday morning, with peak wind gusts reaching 100 to 120 mph.
Cuba’s power ministry says it can disconnect three thermal energy vegetation within the east, the place the storm is anticipated to strike.
Damage and heavy rain from Melissa will possible additional compound Cuba’s issues, together with dire energy shortages, financial instability and an epidemic of the illness dengue, which is carried by mosquitoes.