According to the presidential website, Díaz Canel stressed with the first provincial authorities the priorities to be addressed: electricity recovery, water pumping, sanitation, distribution of the basic food basket, crop harvesting, as well as continuing the survey of damages.

At the meeting, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O, reported that the National Electro-energetic System is already synchronized and that work is underway in the western provinces on electric circuits, repair and replacement of poles and power lines.

De la O said that in the province of Havana, one of the provinces hit by the storm, power is gradually being restored and 81 megawatts are being supplied, of the 500 needed.

Hurricane Rafael hit western Cuba on November 6 with a category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, accompanied by winds in excess of 100 kilometres per hour, and in its wake caused serious damage in the provinces of Artemisa, Mayabeque and Havana, with damage to agriculture, housing, hospital infrastructure and the electricity system.

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