Alberto Hits Cuba’s Pinar del Rio Tobacco Province

Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2006 hurricane season, has brought heavy rains to Cuba’s tobacco-growing western province of Pinar del Rio.

Initial reports are that the weather had not severely affected the tobacco crop because the harvest has been completed. The leaves used to make the island’s famed cigars are already inside curing houses and need only be protected from excess humidity or storm damage to the buildings.

Flooding in Pinar del Rio tobacco-growing province of western Cuba

More than 25,400 people have been evacuated from the Pinar del Río Province due to the passage of the storm. Alberto, which formed during the morning of June 11 in the southeast part of the Gulf of Mexico, was moving away from Cuba’s coasts.

However, the Defense Council in Pinar del Rio has instructed that all precautionary measures be taken to protect human lives and economic assets, and warned that the danger was not yet over. The possibility of increased flooding in low-lying areas near reservoirs continues according to reports from the area.

Nearly a foot of rain has fallen in some areas of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth according to Armando Caymares, a scientist at the Institute of Meteorology Forecast Center. Over seventeen inches has fallen in other areas of western Cuba.
Over eight inches has fallen in the area of Havana.

The rains have swollen rivers, cutting off communication by land in several parts of Pinar del Rio, and causing water supply problems and electric power shortages. Engineer Ramón Pedrera, president of the Electric Company, said that work was underway to reestablish complete service in the area and explained that the breakdowns were due to the poor state of electric cables. Work on replacing and repairing the cables had begun some months ago but was not completed prior to the storm. It was reported that some municipalities were looking for alternative ways to pump water using diesel engines.

In Pinar del Rio’s agricultural sector, it was estimated that about 905 12,154 hectares of crops were flooded. The most affected were yucca, plantain, squash and corn. As mentioned above, no damage to the area’s prime tobacco crop has been reported as yet. According to local Agriculture Delegate Gonzalo Rodriguez, the current strategy is to protect against a possible loss of quality of tobacco leaves due to excess humidity. Agricultural workers are prioritizing leaf separation to allow air circulation.

Rodriguez stated that between 24 and 25 percent of products are estimated to be affected or lost, and that the resevoirs in Pinar del Rio’s had increased their levels from 49 to 90 percent due to the heavy rainfall. The plan in the storm’s aftermath is to focus on sowing short-term crops, for which they have sufficient workforce with the required experience.

Alberto also caused forty partial and three total housing collapses in Havana. Lieutenant Colonel José Manuel Puente, vice president of the City of Havana government, explained that the collapses took place in areas of Old Havana, Cerro and La Lisa near riverbanks, ditches or low-lying areas. Most of the evacuees went to the homes of relatives or friends. Partial housing collapses occurred in Habana del Este, Central Havana and Diez de Octubre, and the total collapses were in Marianao, Cotorro and Cerro.

Water levels in the province’s reservoirs were still rising, and one of them, La Coca, in Habana del Este, was overflowing. More news as it becomes available.

Posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 9:37 pm.