HAVANA – Some of the heaviest damage from the rare Havana tornado is in the eastern borough of Guanabacoa, where the apparent twister tore the roof off a shelter for dozens of homeless families.
Cubans enduring long waits for government housing often live in such multifamily shelters for years.
Yoelkis Dip says his 54-year-old grandmother María Esther Linares was killed while hunting for safe shelter after the tornado broke the roof of the home where she was living with two granddaughters.
Thirty-one-year-old Dianabys Bueno was living in the shelter with her husband and son after they were forced to relocate by the collapse of their home in Central Havana. Much of the housing in Havana is in dire condition due to years without maintenance, and building collapses are routine even in ordinary storms.
Bueno says, “This has already happened to us once,” and adds, I’m not going anywhere.”
Cuba’s president says the storm that hit late Sunday has killed three people and injured 172 others.