At least six dead as tropical storm Oscar passes through eastern Cuba

 At least six people died on Monday due to heavy rains and flooding caused by the passage of tropical storm Oscar through the northeastern tip of Cuba, Civil Defense reported.

The head of the Operations Department of the General Staff of Civil Defense, Argenis Perales Pérez, explained that the deaths occurred in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur, in the province of Guantánamo (east), without providing further details of the event.

Oscar, which made landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane (out of 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale) on Sunday afternoon, spent just over 24 hours over the island, accompanied by strong winds, heavy rains and storm surge.

According to the Meteorological Institute (Insmet), it made landfall near Baracoa at 18:10 local time on Sunday and left Cuban territory near Gibara at around 19:20 local time on Monday.

Along the way, Oscar has left strong winds in Cuba, reaching speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour; intense rains, with accumulations of up to 300 millimeters in 24 hours; and storm surges that have caused unprecedented penetrations in some coastal cities such as Baracoa.

However, its passage through Cuba has significantly weakened Oscar, which is currently accompanied by winds of between 30 and 45 kilometers per hour. The rains and thunderstorms caused by this phenomenon will continue to affect the Caribbean island in the coming hours, especially in mountainous areas, according to Insmet.

Oscar is the fifteenth tropical storm of the current Atlantic hurricane season and the first to make landfall in Cuba.

The US and Cuban weather services have been warning for months that this Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, would be particularly active.

The last time a major hurricane hit Cuba was in September 2017 when Irma moved parallel to the northern coast of the island and caused ten deaths and material losses officially valued at 13.185 billion dollars. EFE