Wednesday 28 September 2022 07:11 PM Hurricane Ian knocks out power to ALL 11m people in Cuba after hitting ... trends now
Dozens of Cuban migrants are missing after a boat they were on capsized off the coast of Florida as the Sunshine State is inundated with 155mph winds.
Hurricane Ian has already devastated the communist Caribbean island, knocking out power to all 11 million of its residents and tearing down decades-old infrastructure.
It is now slamming into Florida, where it is expected to cause even more damage with windspeeds just shy of a Category 5 status.
But as the hurricane gained traction in the Gulf of Mexico, it took down a boat carrying Cubans to the United States.
Four people managed to swim ashore to Florida's Stock Island, Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar, of the U.S. Border Patrol's Miami Sector said, according to BNO News.
But 23 people on board the boat are still missing. The United States Coast Guard is now initiating a search and rescue operation in the area ahead of the storm.
A family watched along the waterfront as a huge wave crashed against the seawall in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday
Storm surges continued to pound Havana, Cuba on Wednesday, even after the eye of the storm passed
The hurricane struck the island early Tuesday morning, devastating the nation's crumbling infrastructure
The Cubans' desperate escape came as the entire island was without power on Wednesday, after Hurricane Ian pummeled the country with 125 mph winds before becoming even more powerful as it approaches Florida.
Ian made landfall in Cuba's Pinar del Rio Province as a Category 3 storm early Tuesday, destroying the country's profitable tobacco and banana farms and leaving two residents dead as buildings collapsed around them.
It devastated the Communist island nation, where infrastructure has been crumbling over the past few decades and the electrical grid has been faltering for months with blackouts an everyday occurrence for many.
At first, the storm knocked out power to about 1 million people before wiping out the entire power grid and leaving all 11.3 million residents without electricity, the Electricity Union reported.
The state electric company Union had earlier said they would turn off power in the capital Havana to avoid electrocutions, deaths, and property damage while the island waited out the anticipated storm.
It was the first time in memory - perhaps ever - that the whole island had lost power.
The entire island of Cuba was without power after Hurricane Ian pummeled the country with 125 mph winds on Tuesday
At first, the storm knocked out power to about 1 million people before wiping out the entire power grid and leaving all 11.3 million residents without electricity. People are seen here playing dominoes by flashlight on Wednesday
The Union announced Wednesday that the process to restore power will be slow, even as the Energy and Mines Ministry said it had restored energy to three regions
Residents were forced to walk through the streets with the help of a phone flashlight on Wednesday
he state electric company Union had earlier said they would turn off power in the capital Havana to avoid electrocutions, deaths, and property damage while the island waited out the anticipated storm
'The system was already operating under complex conditions with the passage of Hurricane Ian,' Lazaro Guerra, technical director of Cuba's Electricity Union, said Tuesday night, adding: 'There is no electricity service in any part of the country right now.'
The Electricity Union announced Wednesday that the process to restore power will be slow, even as the Energy and Mines Ministry said it had restored energy to three regions by activating two large power plants in Felton and Nuevitas.
Soon after, lights started to flicker on in the capital, Havana, but much of the city and other parts of western Cuba were still left in the dark as residents had to use flashlights and candles to light their homes.
Hurricane Ian is now barreling towards Florida, with winds just shy of a Category 5 storm
It is expected to slam into the Tampa area over the next several hours, as the city is already feeling the effects of the storm
In preparation for the devastating storm, Cuban officials set up 55 shelters in the rural Pinar del Rio Province, evacuated 50,000 people and took steps to protect crops in the nation's main tobacco-growing region.
They also cut power to the entire province of about 850,000 residents, according to Reuters, and state-run media reported that farmers had secured 33,000 tons of tobacco from prior harvests.
But their efforts were not enough, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center reporting that Cuba suffered 'significant wind and storm surge impacts' when it struck.
As the eye of the hurricane moved into the Gulf Wednesday, scenes of destruction emerged from Cuba's tobacco-belt, where the strong winds ripped metal roofs off homes and buildings throughout the region.
Videos on social media showed downed power lines and cut off roads in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Mayabeque and Artemisa , which reported that 40 percent of its banana plantations had been damaged by the storm.
The owner of the premier Finca Robaina cigar producer posted photos on social media of wood-and-thatch roofs smashed to the ground, greenhouses in rubble and wagons overturned.
'It was apocalyptic, a real disaster,' wrote Hirochi Robaina, grandson of the operation´s founder.
Mayelin Suarez, a street vendor who sells ice cream in the provincial capital, also called the night of the storm's passage the 'the darkest of her life.'
'We almost lost the roof off our house,' Suarez told Reuters, her voice trembling. 'My daughter, my husband and I tied it down with a rope to keep it from flying away.
And Andy Muñoz, 37, who lives in Playa Cajío in Artemisa said many people in his town lost their belongings in the storm, with Mercedes Valdés, who lives along the highway connecting Pinar del Río to San Juan y Martínez, saying her new masonry and zinc roof were torn down by the heavy winds.
'We couldn't rescue our things ... we just ran out,' she said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Cuba suffered 'significant wind and storm surge impacts' when Ian struck on Tuesday. People are seen here walking through a flooded street in the city of Batabano
Some residents lost the roofs of their homes as the storm devastated the decades-old infrastructure. People are seen here assessing the damage outside their home on Tuesday
Havana was also hit hard by the storm with workers unclogging storm drains and fishermen taking their boats out of the water to try to protect themselves from the flooding. A man is seen here walking through a flooded street in the nation's capital
One woman in Pinar del Rio, the center of the storm, points to the damage in her roof, above the second story
Photos posted online show fallen utility poles and branches, making roads in Cuba impassable
Even some trees were pictured underwater after Hurricane Ian made landfall early Tuesday morning
People are pictured trying to clean a street in Consolacion del Sur, as the storm passed on Tuesday
Local government station TelePinar, meanwhile, reported heavy damage at the main hospital in Pinar del Rio city, tweeting photos of collapsed ceilings and toppled trees
At least two deaths were reported in the province: a woman killed by a falling wall and another by a collapsed
