Guantanamo.- The province of Guantánamo began operations to protect approximately 139,014 people in anticipation of the approaching hurricane Melissa, and its path is directing it straight towards southeastern region and which at 6 a.m. Melissa is a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds that have increased to over 165 mph.
In accordance with the provincial Defense Council’s decisions to protect the population, 108,020 citizens are receiving special assistance from family and friends, while 31,094 are being received in the 103 centers set up for this contingency, where basic services and healthcare are guaranteed.
According to vulnerability studies for a climatic phenomenon of the magnitude we are facing, evacuations include all residents of the southern coast of Guantanamo, where waves could reach up to 5 meters high; residents of low-lying and flood areas of the town of Caimanera due to the possibility of rising sea levels in the Guantánamo Bay; and residents of the Casimba area, which could be isolated by the flow of the river.
In addition to the usual evacuation zones, residents of Cuneira, El Kilo, and El Caró, in the municipality of El Salvador have also been designated. Transportation will begin by rail. Residents of Cecilia and Arroyo Hondo, who have traditionally been evacuated, are urged to cooperate and must comply with this measure, which protects their own lives.
Dams and rivers are under constant surveillance, and residents downstream who could become trapped and flooded are being evacuated. The bitter experiences of Oscar in the municipalities of San Antonio del Sur and Imías last October, with landslides and sudden, violent, and unusual flooding that caused the loss of eight lives, have not been forgotten.
The provincial Meteorological Center insists on the imperative to comply with all decisions of the Defense Council and Civil Defense and to take into account the danger of this increasingly intense meteorological agency.
