About 168,900 people have been evacuated in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-most populated province, as Hurricane Melissa approaches, according to Cuban officials.
Authorities are prioritizing high-risk areas in the province, including coastal and mountain communities, settlements near rivers, and areas downstream of reservoirs, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, said.
On Tuesday afternoon, police announced a curfew in the provincial capital, telling people to stay indoors until the storm passes.
Santiago de Cuba, one of five Cuban provinces under a hurricane warning, is expected to experience the worst conditions from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, with peak wind gusts reaching 100 to 120 mph.
Cuba’s energy ministry says it will disconnect three thermal power plants in the east, where the storm is expected to strike.
Damage and heavy rain from Melissa will likely further compound Cuba’s problems, including dire power shortages, economic instability and an epidemic of the disease dengue, which is carried by mosquitoes.