Persistent rains in western Cuba this weekend caused a total of 135 collapses in buildings in Havana ( 117 partial and 18).
According to statements made by Juan Montalvo , vice president of the Administration Council in the province, ” 1,546 people were evacuated from their homes , totaling 417 households , 200 of which have moved in with friends , family and neighbors , and the rest to c protection enters enabled by governments in each municipality. “
Among the most affected localities is the municipality of Centro Habana, which in less than 48 hours recorded rainfall of 283 millimeters (mm) , second only to Plaza de la Revolucion with 289 mm and and Playa with 390.6 mm.
Montalvo explained the importance of maintaining the necessary precautionary measures by the population in housing and areas more likely to suffer affectations, because once the rains culminated, weakened structures of the buildings tend to collapse so that people who were evacuated “should not return home until after the appropriate evaluation of their safety.”
“The death toll from rains remains in two, who died last Friday in an early collapses in the Centro Habana” he said.
Showers associated with the fourth cold front of the season, which remained static in the west of the island, caused serious flooding in streets and avenues of the city from Thursday night to Sunday. The weather imposed an absolute record maximum 24-hour rainfall for the month of November since 1909. As explained by Armando Caimares, shift manager of the Forecast Center of the Institute of Meteorology, between 7:00 am Friday and Saturday the same time, Casablanca Station recorded the record, when registered 228.3 millimeters of rainfall.
