Isabel Rubio, Cuba – Thousands of residents of western Cuba were in shelters Monday waiting for Alberto’s floodwaters to recede as the season’s first tropical storm pulled away after dumping more than a foot of rain on the island.
More than 25,000 people were evacuated over the weekend, officials said, mainly from low-lying areas in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, La Habana and the Isle of Youth.
Alberto, which was still only a tropical depression when it lashed Cuba with torrential rains, caused flooding, blackouts and water-supply problems.
State-run media reported that efforts were underway to restore power in Pinar del Rio province after a weekend plagued with more than 200 outages.
The rain, exceeding a foot in some locations, quickly filled the reservoirs and caused rivers to burst their banks, washing out roads in several parts of the province.
Here in the Pinar del Rio town of Isabel Rubio, the swollen Cuyaguateje River flooded homes, including that of Prudencia, 87, who spent Monday trying to clear the water and mud from her residence.
“We have been removing black mud all morning to see if can sleep here today,” she said. The octogenarian, like many of her neighbors, headed for the relative safety of a nearby church when the water began rising.
Prudencia is expectantly waiting for the completion of a cluster of new dwellings on a spot of higher ground in Isabel Rubio to get a crack at a home that is less precarious.
Her neighbor Teresita, who looks to be about 60, complained Monday that authorities did not act quickly enough to drain the reservoirs to avert flooding.
“If we’re this way now, I don’t know what’s going to happen when the rains arrive in August and September,” she said, looking forward with dread to what is usually the peak of hurricane season.
In the parts of Isabel Rubio that lie closer to the river, more than half a meter (upwards of 18 inches) remained on the streets, but residents were already at work cleaning up the less-soggy areas.
Authorities have still not given the all-clear for evacuees to return to their homes, and state-run radio and television continue to call for adherence to emergency measures.
In La Habana province, the worst harm was caused by a tornado that struck Sunday in the municipality of Nueva Paz, about 70 kilometers (42 miles) east of the Cuban capital, leaving eight people injured.
The national government has yet to offer a damage estimate from Alberto’s passage, but spokespeople for Pinar del Rio’s vital tobacco industry said they expect any losses in that sector to be minimal because the harvest is already in.
Cuba’s chief forecaster, Jose Rubiera, said Monday that while the rains would diminish gradually over western Cuba, Alberto’s affects could linger.
“There remain (rain-)bands that are generating and strengthening,” he said, adding that conditions could begin returning to normal on Tuesday as the intensifying storm approaches landfall on the west coast of Florida.
The government’s meteorologists have warned Cubans to expect an “active” tropical season, with the formation of at least 10 named storms between June 1 and Nov. 30.
After the “extraordinary” 2005 season that saw a record 28 named storms, 15 of them hurricanes, the U.S. National Hurricane Center is predicting 16 named storms, including six major hurricanes.
Cuba received direct hits last year from Hurricanes Dennis, Rita and Wilma, with the last generating the most severe flooding in the history of Havana.
