Cuba readies to preserve life from tropical storms

Havana, Aug 24.-Cuba takes preventive measures to protect life and material resources from the danger posed by tropical storm Laura that will begin battering this Sunday the eastern province of Guantanamo.

 

According to the latest weather forecast, the storm will cut through the island from east to west.

Provincial Defense Councils began evacuating people, resources, and coordinating for the delivery necessary provisions.

Speaking on Saturday at the meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of the new coronavirus, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said to coordinate measures to protect population from the rain and sea surge, while keeping up preventive plans to fight Covid-19.

‘We have to work more rigorously in the places where we evacuate people, we have to take everything into account and design it well,’ stated the president, according to the Presidency website. According to local television reports, maritime transport of cargo and passengers between the ports of Gerona and Batabano (west) was suspended, while the storage capacity of the country’s reservoirs was at 53.2 percent full.

In places like Baracoa (east), where the winds and swells of Tropical Storm Laura will soon beging hitting, actions were needed in areas where coastal flooding is common, in addition to stockpiling produce from harvest.

Meanwhile, in the western most province of Pinar del Rio, condition of the dams was verified and other measures were applied to reduce possible damage caused by intense rainfall.

The Forecasting Center of the Cuban Meteorology Institute reported at 6 p.m. Tropical Storm Laura would beging hitting eastern Cuba by Sunday afternoon winds between 60 and 75 kilometers per hour, in addition to swells on the northern coast of that region. (Prensa Latina)