Cuba evacuates thousands due to heavy rain
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- Published: Monday, 28 May 2018 17:30
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Photo: RHC.Havana, May 28.- Some 3,000 people have been evacuated in the central province of Sancti Spiritus because of the threat of flooding, as well as those near the Zaza Reservoir, which has overflowed due to the heavy rain.
About 2,000 people have reportedly been evacuated in the province of Villa Clara.
The provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Matanzas and Ciego de Avila have also been hit by the storm. In Matanzas 5,000 people have been evacuated in the municipality of Marti, also because of the threat of flooding of the Bibanasi reservoir.
According to Cuban experts, the torrential rains left an average of 200 millimeters in several meteorological stations during 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday. That is 7,89 inches, which amounts to 54 percent of May's monthly norm.
Much of this rain is associated to subtropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season.
The storm is bringing heavy rain Monday to the U.S. Gulf Coast as well as western Cuba. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center expect the storm to make landfall sometime Monday with maximum sustained winds of about 100 kilometers per hour. (RHC)
