Cuba rains leave severe crop losses, 1,900 homes damaged

Cuba rains leave severe crop losses, 1,900 homes damaged
Published June 08, 2013
EFE

The torrential rains in western Cuba over the past week caused "severe
losses" to agriculture and damaged more than 1,900 homes in Pinar del
Rio province, the hardest hit by the storm, official media said Saturday.

Though authorities have not yet reported the total amount of damage, the
local press estimated Saturday that more than 1,900 homes were damaged
and another 437 are still underwater, while more than 2,600 people
remain evacuated because of the floods.

Corn, sweet potato, cassava, melon and cucumber crops suffered the
principal losses, though still not quantified, while tobacco crops seem
to have had no outright losses but have suffered "the ill effects of
excess dampness," according to the state-run National News Agency.

Growers in Cuba's so-called land of tobacco, Pinar del Rio, fear that
over 13,000 tons of the leaf could be lost to damage from the humidity
and the possible collapse of storehouses where the tobacco is dried.

Authorities of the province, located on the extreme west end of the
island, called for immediate "recovery" action and eliminated the
"alarm" phase established Wednesday due to the intensity of the rains
that began last week as part of a wide low-pressure area over the
extreme southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

The downpours, which were later associated with the path of Tropical
Storm Andrea to Florida, left an accumulated 422 millimeters (17 inches)
of rain in six days, 188 percent more than the historical average of
rainfall during the month of June in the region.

Meanwhile dams in the province showed a rise in water level from 50
percent to 85 percent of capacity after the rains.

Cuban media said this Saturday that there are no longer areas left
incommunicado by the floods, and a large number of the more than 600
electrical outages reported have been fixed.

Besides Pinar del Rio, rainstorms affected the western provinces of
Artemisa, Mayabeque and La Habana. EFE

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/06/08/cuba-rains-leave-severe-crop-losses-100-homes-damaged/