Ivette Garrido hurried final week to get the 13 kilos of backed hen allotted to her household by Cuba's authorities and put it within the freezer, completely happy to have meat to get via Hurricane Ian.
Now she is contemplating giving the hen to her three canines earlier than it goes dangerous as a large energy blackout attributable to the storm extends past two days and every little thing in her freezer thaws amid scorching temperatures.
The federal government has not stated what proportion of the inhabitants stays with out electrical energy, however electrical authorities stated solely 10% of Havana's 2 million folks had energy Thursday.
"We aren't having an excellent time, attempting to outlive, to maintain issues from thawing," stated Garrido, who lives together with her mom and a 19-year-old daughter within the city of Cojimar on the outskirts of Havana.
Lots of of hundreds of Cubans are going through related conditions.
Ian crossed western Cuba on Tuesday earlier than heading north to Florida. It initially knocked out energy to some provinces, however issues compounded and shortly the facility grid collapsed nationwide, affecting 11 million folks, the primary time a complete blackout has occurred in residing reminiscence.
The storm additionally left three folks lifeless and induced still-unquantified harm.
Electrical energy returned in some components of Cuba on Wednesday, whereas it got here on then shut off once more in different components. Specialists stated the overall blackout confirmed the vulnerability of Cuba's energy grid.
Authorities have promised to work with out relaxation to deal with the problem.
A half-dozen Havana residents interviewed by The Related Press on Thursday have been tense due to the shortage of electrical energy, which has additionally left them with out water since electrical motors energy the pumps that convey water to their faucets. Many houses cannot prepare dinner as a result of they use electrical stoves following a marketing campaign by authorities to remove artisanal stoves.
"We've by no means been so lengthy with out electrical energy," Garrido stated. "They put it at 24 hours, at 36, nevertheless it's already been greater than 48. It is prison. Who's answerable for this?"
She has positioned bottles of frozen water that had been within the freezer subsequent to the hen, together with some pork and sausages, to attempt to protect the meat longer. A fan and tv additionally await the return of electrical energy.
Calls by AP to a dozen folks in Cuba's major cities — Holguín, Guantánamo, Matanzas, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey and Santiago — discovered related issues to Havana, with most reporting their neighborhoods have been nonetheless with out electrical energy.
Authorities say the overall blackout occurred due to a failure within the connections between Cuba's three areas — west, heart and east — attributable to Ian's winds.
Cuba's energy grid "was already in a essential and immuno-compromised state because of the deterioration of the thermoelectric vegetation. The affected person is now on life help," stated Jorge Piñon, director of the Middle for Worldwide Vitality and Environmental Coverage's Latin America and Caribbean Latin America and Caribbean program on the College of Texas.
Being interconnected "is the proper analogy for the domino impact wherein you knock down a domino and hit all of the others in a sequence response," he stated.
Cuba is struggling an financial disaster, produced by a mixture of U.S. sanctions, the results of the COVID-19 pandemic and inefficiencies. The island's GDP plummeted 11% in 2020 and grew 1.3% in 2021. Cubans have been already residing with scheduled energy blackouts.
Cuba has 13 energy technology vegetation, eight of that are conventional thermoelectric vegetation, and 5 floating energy vegetation rented from Turkey since 2019. There may be additionally a gaggle of small vegetation distributed all through the nation since an vitality reform in 2006.
However the vegetation are poorly maintained, a phenomenon the federal government attributed to the shortage of funds and U.S. sanctions. Problems in acquiring gasoline can be an issue.
"Sadly, it will likely be an extended restoration course of that can even need to cowl the technology deficit that already existed earlier than the hurricane, all this at a excessive financial value that the nation can not afford," Piñon stated.