Tropical storm Oscars further worsens power outages across the country

Tropical Storm Oscar is complicating the restoration of power in Cuba after widespread and prolonged power outages that preceded the hurricane.

The country’s power grid collapsed on Friday after Cuba’s largest power plant failed, leaving more than 10 million people without electricity. The network reportedly collapsed four more times before Oscar made landfall as a Category 1 storm on Sunday evening.

Oscar hits a key power-producing region, home to at least two important power plants in the city of Holguin, Santiago de Cuba. Storm creates ‘additional inconvenience’, reports Associated Press Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy announced this at a press conference. The storm is still raging across Cuba today, creating new dangers for residents and complicating efforts to get the power grid running again.

Oscar remains dangerous, although it has become a tropical storm since landfall. Heavy rainfall is expected to cause “life-threatening flash flooding as well as landslides in parts of eastern Cuba, especially the Sierra Maestra” by midweek, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Authorities are working to restore power by Tuesday, de la O Levy said. Several days without power have already caused heavy losses, leaving people without running water systems (as water pumps require electricity) or refrigeration to keep food from rotting.

Even before last week’s crisis, Cuba was already teetering on an energy crisis due to its aging grid and looming fuel shortages. Officials say they are working to put microenergy systems to work to restore power region by region until “greater stability” is achieved.