Rainy Season in Cuba (Continued)

More sobering news courtesy of Net For Cuba and translated by yours truly from the floods in Havana, which as of last report have killed at least seven people.

The Cuban regime may get people out of harms way before hurricanes strike, but good luck with anything else that requires quick action and care for their own people.

Terror and neglect by torrential flood.

By Dr Darsi Ferrer Ramirez

Torrential rains that whipped Havana yesterday afternoon affected hundreds of families, leaving behind several deaths as well as total and partial losses to property and resources.
In some places the flood waters reached more than two meters in depth, as was the case for several blocks of Durege Street, in the municipality of Santos Suarez. Several houses were completely flooded and the water demolished walls among other effects.

Throughout the rain and flood event which lasted approximately four hours, the neighbors of that district called government organizations in search of aid, but according to several testimonies, at no moment did help arrive.

The neighbors themselves had to rescue dozens of children, women and elderly people who were trapped inside their homes and in serious danger. The level of the water covered clocks and electrical cables and, even then, the government failed to turn off power to the area which could have resulted in even more deaths. Also, neither civil defense nor other state organizations were present to aid the victims.

Hours after the event, two fire trucks arrived and a indignant group of 100 people gathered at the scene tried to attack them as they angrily shouted: "down to Fidel", "down to Communism", "Immediate aid was sent to Pakistan but they leave us to our own luck", etc.

Up to now, it is rumored that the rain and floods resulted in three deaths in the Zamora neighborhood, two children and an elderly man in the Lisa area of Marianao, another elderly man in Havana Center, one electrocution in the district known as Cuatro Caminos, and a death from an accident on Ayestaran Street.

An article appeared today in state newspaper Granma (official organ of the Communist Party) mentioning the floods but did not offer other details.