Mexico City, 22 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - At least six people died after Tropical cyclone Oscar slammed into eastern Cuba, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Monday, as the majority of the island was largely in darkness for the fourth night in a row.

In the province of Guantánamo, entire areas have been flooded and rescue workers were unable to reach the affected areas, said Díaz-Canel said. Authorities said that at least 1,000 homes have been damaged.

The collapse of the country's outdated power grid due to the storm resulted in the majority of the population of around 10 million being without power for a fourth straight night. Cuba's aging power grid failed on Friday morning.

Díaz-Canel said only a third of the country's electricity supply has been restored so far. In Havana, around 90% of connections have electricity again.

The president said he would no longer attend the summit of the BRICS intergovernmental organization in the Russian city of Kazan, which kicks off on Tuesday, due to the emergency triggered by the storm.

Oscar had hit Cuba as a hurricane at the weekend and was then downgraded to a weaker tropical storm as it passed over the island.

According to the US National Hurricane Center, the storm continues to cause heavy rainfall in eastern Cuba and the south-west of the Bahamas.

MIA file photo