According to Euronews, several villages in the coastal zone have been flooded on the island. But overall, in terms of destruction, Cuba has suffered little compared to its neighbors. By the time the hurricane crashed onto the island, the hurricane had weakened to the 3rd degree (before that it was to the highest, fifth hazard category).
People walk along a street destroyed by a hurricane in the city of Caibarien. September 9, 2017 
Vacationers and a security guard assess the beach the day after the disaster. Many tourists continued to swim in the high ocean waves off Varadero. September 10, 2017 
Gusts of wind tore the roofs from the roofs of buildings in the city of Remedios in Cuba. September 9, 2017 
A Chinese tourist drinks rum on a beach the day after the disaster strikes in Cuba. September 10, 2017 
A local resident hides from the rain after passing "Irma" in the Cuban city of Caibarien. September 9, 2017 
The element broke the palm tree in two. Photo from the waterfront of the city of Caibarien 
Tourists from England and Scotland sit with drinks in the hotel after the passage of Hurricane Irma in resort town Varadero in Cuba. September 11, 2017 
A horse tied to a door grate near one of the buildings after passing "Irma" in Cuba 
A man talks to a neighbor while collecting water to clear the front door of his house after a hurricane
The hurricane season in Cuba runs from July to November, with September and October being the months most likely to form a cyclone. In addition, these months tend to receive more rainfall due to tropical storms.
It is worth noting that hurricanes in Cuba do not pose a risk to life, however, they can lead to the fact that you will need to reconsider your vacation plans. We believe that during hurricane season in Cuba it is better to come to this island for at least 10 days, as there is a risk of staying up to 4-5 days in a hotel. Imagine that you came to Cuba for a week and could only spend 1-2 days on the beach. Few people will be satisfied with such a prospect.
Cuba is very well prepared for hurricanes and every hotel has people in charge of evacuating. However, in most cases, when a hurricane strikes, hotel staff will only advise you not to go outside.
Hurricane Irma in Cuba
Since Hurricane Irma in 2017 is already considered one of the strongest in recent years, it is not surprising that it scared many tourists who are going or are on vacation in Cuba.
When will Hurricane Irma hit Cuba? It is already approaching the island, and in the next couple of days it will be held in the immediate vicinity of it.
Let's take a look at the projected route of Hurricane Irma. As you can see in the image below, the hurricane will pass between the Bahamas and Cuba, closer to the latter. As you can see in the picture, near Varadero, the hurricane will be in the afternoon on September 9th. It is clearly seen that the red level of danger is observed throughout the Florida coast and on the part of the coast of Cuba, on which Varadero is located. Havana, judging by the image, remains away from the hurricane.
Of course, those tourists who are now in Varadero, and those who are going to fly on vacation to this resort area of Cuba, are now not in the best mood, since the red level of danger is serious. Nevertheless, as we can see, the hazard category of Hurricane Irma should fall to the 4th. Although hurricanes in this category are also very powerful, the wind speed will not be the highest. Second, we see that the hurricane, before reaching Varadero, should turn north towards Florida. If everything happens this way, then Hurricane Irma will slightly touch famous resort in Cuba. Recently, the hurricane passed near the Dominican Republic, and the resorts of this country were practically not affected by it. So let's hope that Hurricane Irma in Cuba will not leave any serious marks either.
On the this moment Hurricane Irma warning in Cuba applies to provinces Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara.
As for the situation in Varadero, my friend said that they are preparing for a hurricane. Local residents clog the windows with boards, remove all things from the street that may fly away. In addition, store counters in Varadero and other cities in the region are emptying.
For now, it remains only to prepare for the hurricane and hope that it will pass by or will not be very destructive.
We will try to keep you updated with the latest developments. If something changes fundamentally, we will inform you.
Situation as of 12:30 Moscow time
I managed to contact an acquaintance living in the city of Santa Clara. The hurricane should come there soon. According to my friend, everyone in the city is ready for serious destruction, no one harbors illusions that the hurricane will pass without a trace. According to him, in many areas around the islands of Cayo Romano and Cayo Coco, flooding is observed. However, nothing is known about serious damage. As for the forecasts, they are ambiguous. On the one hand, there is a forecast that hurricane Irma in Cuba will turn north just before Varadero and only slightly touch this resort:
But, on the other hand, there is a forecast according to which the epicenter of the hurricane will pass just over Varadero, and only then turn to west coast Florida:
Either way, this is not the first hurricane that has hit Cuba, so there is no doubt that hotels in Varadero and other Cuban resort areas are built to withstand the worst hurricane.
Huge waves smashed the embankment of the old colonial city after the north coast of the island was swept away by a storm. Residents of the Cuban capital were waist-deep in water. Havana's communications have been completely destroyed.
“This is a terrible disaster, as most buildings are not ready for the elements and will not withstand the flood,” says Cuban Yanmara Suarez, standing up to his chest in water.
Express info by country
Cuba(Republic of Cuba) - Island state in the northern Caribbean.
Capital- Havana
Largest cities: Havana, Santiago de Cuba
Form of government- Socialist Republic
Territory- 110 860 km 2 (104th in the world)
Population- 11.38 million people (77th in the world)
Official language- Spanish
Religion- Catholicism, syncretism
HDI- 0.769 (67th in the world)
Gdp- $ 77.15 billion (66th in the world)
Currency- peso
“This is the first time this has happened in the 49 years that I have lived here,” says Ernesto Losa, whose house, fortunately, was on a hill and suffered the least. "Ocean levels have always been rising, but there has never been a flood."
The Cuban authorities said that in the capital, the wind speed reached 150 km / h. On Sunday, Havana was left without electricity, water and telephone connections were interrupted. In some places ocean water rose more than 500 m. The municipality of the city reports that the situation will not improve until Tuesday.
https://youtu.be/AeMpwB_Rg8o
Irma razed the center of Cuba to the ground on Saturday - tearing down roofs, uprooting trees, breaking power lines. The Cuban media reported that the wind speed reached 256 km / h. The authorities evacuated about a million people, of which about 4 thousand from coastal areas and tourist centers... No casualties were reported in Cuba.
Cuban helping hand
Cuba itself is now in dire straits, but last week some 750 doctors were sent to help regions affected by Irma's atrocities - Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Cuban doctors in the Dominican Islands
A small country with a population of 11 million does not remain indifferent to the victims of the disaster. For example, a team of 600 Cuban health workers worked in Sierra Leone in 2014 at the height of the Ebola fever, and 1,200 Cuban doctors ended up in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Who will come to Cuba's aid today?
A natural disaster covered the capital of Cuba with powerful winds of 60 km / h with gusts up to 121 km / h and downpours. The height of the waves in some parts of the island reached six to nine meters. Flights were canceled, tourists were evacuated. Our fellow countrymen were also in the center of events. They say about themselves: lucky. Because in the most amazing way they managed to get a lot of impressions and return safely to their homeland. And 11 days spent in Cuba became an amazing page in their life.
Sep 6, 2017 at 4:38 am PDT
Ekaterina Nevidimova, Director of External Relations of KTC Metalwork JSC, had planned her vacation in advance. In more than a month I went to a travel agency. But where to fly - she decided unexpectedly for herself.
It turned out pretty funny: I came to Rostur and said that I needed Turkey. Although I did not want to fly there at all. And when the travel agent asked "well, are we looking at Turkey?" I replied unexpectedly: “No! Let's go Cuba! "
We immediately decided on the place of Katya - Varadero. These are amazing Cuba beaches - the Atlantic Ocean, shallow water, sand.
I chose the hotel from the photo. I immediately dismissed all five-star ones, because they are all rather boring: huge buildings and no soul. And I needed to go out, to see, my soul turned around and did not curl up until the end of the tour, - the traveler smiles. - In the end, I stopped at the Kawama Hotel, which does not have five stars, but is located directly opposite Florida and is located in a magnificent coastal area.
This season, as it turned out, the prices for trips to Cuba are quite affordable, and by the end of August they had dropped significantly in price.
We looked at the departure options: for August 19 and August 29. The last date was cheaper by a very decent amount. All inclusive in Turkey is in some cases even more expensive, it takes luxurious hotel rooms, a variety of food and crazy entertainment. Cuba is different. Cuba is a soul without a penny behind it.
Penniless ...
Poverty, as sad as it may sound, is the very word that characterizes Cuba as correctly as possible. Katya was convinced of how strikingly different the life of the islanders was in the very first days of her vacation.
The shops in Cuba are empty but rum, cigars, coffee, chips, corn sticks, cola and water. There are big problems with detergents. Prices for tourists are very high, for locals they are very different. They have food according to coupons. For example, the guide said that the norm of meat and sausages per person per month is 250 grams. They constantly eat rice and beans, love this food very much, cook either all separately and mix, or all at once. Each of these types of cooking has a separate name, even. And, as I understood, the provision of food in Cuba has always been bad.
Tourists, of course, didn’t buy goods with coupons, but they didn’t go hungry either. In hotels, even if not five-star, absolutely everything is provided for visitors.
Visitors to the island are a source of well-being for the locals. And this applies not only to food, but to the safety of life. All Cubans understand this and therefore are very careful about such a source of income for the country as tourism and its development.
Tourists from Russia, by the way, were single guests at the hotel. Therefore, they communicated there only in English.
... and heaven for the soul
But it is not the life of the island of freedom, of course, Katya will remember most of all. Ulyanovsk tourists were conquered by a stunning beautiful architecture a colonial-style fairytale city of Havana.
The Malecon promenade, which is called the longest bench in Havana - on it locals they like to sit in the evenings, just chatting, there are always a lot of lovers here.
And the most vivid impression that will remain for many years - the ocean.
The ocean in Cuba is a paradise for the soul and the eyes. This is one of the most safe countries in terms of harmful animals and plants. On this paradise island sheer beauty without the potential threat to life.
Publication from Ekaterina Nevidimova (@katrin_nevidimova)
Sep 4 2017 at 11:22 am PDT
But there is one but - seasonal hurricanes, storms and tropical showers. The latter swoop in abruptly and pass just as quickly, without having time to even slightly spoil the mood of tourists with their warm streams. Everything dries out after them very quickly.
But since Monday (September 4 - author's note), strange things began to be noticed: a dolphin sailed, then for several days in a row at 4:15 pm an electric stingray swam to the beach, a needlefish swam near the shore, there were a lot of fish in general in the water near the shore began to scurry. On Thursday, flowers, small bananas and agave washed ashore by the current - we connected this with the hurricane in Miami.
Publication from Ekaterina Nevidimova (@katrin_nevidimova)
Sep 7 2017 at 4:22 am PDT
No panic, but with excitement
In general, they started talking about the storm from the beginning of the week. At the reception they posted reports on the movement of "Irma" and "Jose". On Thursday, all the windows in the hotel were sealed with tape. On the beach, the work of lifeguards, police and hotel security has been strengthened. Tracking the trajectory of Irma's movement, her attacks were expected from the morning of September 8 onwards. Each downpour with thunder and wind caused a vague premonition of impending disaster.
But neither the workers nor the guests at the hotel panicked. Although, of course, the excitement of others was felt, people followed the news.
It was scary, it's true, - Ekaterina admits. - Because everyone is defenseless before the elements. Relatives in Ulyanovsk went crazy with excitement. And we just tried not to panic. Once we even sat after dinner on a swing with a girl from Moscow and looked at the buildings around, planned our actions in case of the arrival of "Irma". We tried to assess the strength of the buildings on the territory and determine the load-bearing structures in our houses.
But until Friday, nature took care of this beautiful land. On September 8, Ekaterina packed her suitcases - the holidays were over.
Our plane was delayed for 2 hours. Why - we do not know. But during this time, a shower began twice, and the clouds thickened to blackness. Then they announced the landing on our Boeing. By the way, before taking us to Russia, he brought a new batch of Russians to Varadero ... That was strange. Because the situation there was tense, the media wrote about the evacuation, and here - more than 300 brand new vacationers came to the very hell.
On Friday, but after Katya's departure, tourists were evacuated from the hotel. All flights to Moscow, starting from Saturday, have been postponed ...
Now Katya is already in her native Ulyanovsk. Relatives are happy that the vacation ended well, the traveler herself enjoys numerous photos and memories.
I very much remember the words of the guide Jesus. He studied at one time in the USSR as a pilot, met his wife here, who studied at a pedagogical university. And then he returned to Cuba. During the excursion, he said: “Thank you, friends, your country for your support, without you we would not have held out a day in the struggle for freedom” ... I hope Irma will spare Cuba and its extraordinary people, who can do everything from birth dance salsa and bachata, they know a lot about rum no worse than real pirates and are always in good location spirit ... Maybe because a favorite incendiary melody sounds in the head of a real Cuban even when he is just walking down the street. No pasaran! Viva la Cuba - They won't pass. Long live Cuba. The slogan of the Cuban revolution is now relevant - but as if it is addressed to the hostile forces of nature.
Publication from Ekaterina Nevidimova (@katrin_nevidimova)
Sep 9 2017 at 3:48 am PDT
Reference:
Hurricane Irma is already called the most powerful in the Atlantic Ocean region for at least the last decade. More than 20 people have been killed in the Caribbean region. About 200 Russian tourists were evacuated from the area of activity of hurricane Irma in Cuba. At the moment, his influence is already being felt in the state of Florida.
Victoria Memetova,
Photo from the personal archive of Ekaterina Nevidimova
Irma, a Category 5 hurricane hit Cuba on Saturday night, washing away seaside towns and causing flooding in the low-lying areas of the capital Havana. Hurricane winds of more than 200 km / h tore off the roofs of houses, tore trees from the ground. A forced evacuation along the coast was required.
Irma is now on her way to the mainland, and the hurricane warnings in Cuba in the provinces of Matanzas and Havana were ended Monday night.
But precipitation is expected to continue on Wednesday. Authorities have warned of flash floods and landslides amid efforts to rebuild and clean up areas. At this time, Hurricane Jose continues in the Atlantic and does not threaten Cuba in any way.
Even this huge tree could not stand Hurricane Irma.
Most people in the coastal area live in one-story houses, at the risk of flood water rising to roof level in some places. Residents were shocked at the damage and say it will take a long time to recover. Many left the city before the storm and all foreigners were forced to evacuate. Those who stayed were prepared even though they knew it would be the storm that anyone had ever experienced.
Meanwhile, at dusk on Saturday in Havana, flooding began in the area of the popular waterfront. Floods continue on Sunday as well. At the US Embassy in Havana, part of the fence that surrounds the complex has been broken. US Marines and Cuban police surrounded the plaza.
So far, there have been no reports of any loss of life in Cuba. Elsewhere, a few days earlier in the Caribbean, 26 deaths were attributed to Irma. Nine were in various French territories, Barbuda, Anguilla, four in Saint Martin, four in British Virgin islands, four in the US Virgin Islands, and three in Puerto Rico.
The Cuban government prepared itself with provisions and construction equipment ahead of Irma's arrival. Authorities cut power to parts of the city and evacuated about 10,000 people from Central Havana amid fears of storm and flooding, Reuters reported.
What happened to the Cayo Coco resort after the hurricane
Irma first hit the archipelago north of Cuba. In the provinces of Camaguey and Ciego de Avila, wind gusts in places were so strong that they destroyed the instrument used to measure the wind, Cuba's meteorological agency reported.
It is here that another famous resort, Cayo Coco, is located, where the damage is very significant. The eye of the hurricane passed along the coast.
Several hotels in Atlantic Ocean, popular with our tourists, suffered significant damage. Recall that the first chartered flight to this island from Moscow was planned for October 12. What happened to the airport can be seen in the footage below.
Jardines Del Rey Airport is in ruins. How long it will take to restore it is still unknown.
At the Pullman Cayo Coco all guests were evacuated and were not allowed to stay at the hotel. The video shows just this hotel.
It is reported that those who did not postpone their vacation to other dates were forced to move to other regions of Cuba. There are no detailed eyewitness accounts from there, since there is no electricity and communication in Cayo Coco.
Later, the hurricane was recorded in the northern part of Camaguey province, the agency notes. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to hit Camagueya for the first time in 85 years, according to state radio stations.
Varadero after Hurricane Irma
Torrential rain and powerful winds from Irma hit Caibarien, a small coastal town about 320 kilometers east of Havana, late Friday night, shortly after the hurricane hit Varadero. The storm cut off electricity as a preventive measure. In the resort town of Varadero, in the province of Matanzas, 14,500 foreign tourists were traveling due to the storm, according to the state news organization Granma.
At dawn on Saturday, waves rolled down the main street of the city. For several hours, the entire city was flooded with several meters of water.
There are many large hotel complexes in Varadero. and strong enough to withstand the elements. Sometimes tourists were offered accommodation in a building instead of a bungalow.
The destruction in Varadero is, of course, no less subtle.
The beaches of Varadero are ruins of umbrellas, small buildings have been destroyed, in some places dead fish and other marine life.
No data on casualties among the population or tourists were received from Varadero, as well as from the rest of Cuba.
“This is a complete disaster and it will take a lot of work to get Varadero back on its feet,” said Osmel de Armas, 53, a water photographer who works on the beach at the affected resort.
For those who think that earlier in the Dominican Republic there was something like this - let's calm down. In the Dominican Republic there was no hurricane not in the northern regions, not in the western ones. Hurricane Irma was there in the form of rain and strong wind... In Punta Cana, the wind was 3-4 times weaker than in Varadero. There were no waves of such force in the Dominican Republic either, so there are no fears about recreation in this country.
