HAVANA – As Cuban military cadets were moving from block to block Tuesday in Havana to clean up the debris a rare tornado left behind, the families of the four people killed during the Sunday night storm were in mourning.
Cuban meteorologists said it took 16 minutes for the F4 tornado to cause destruction. There were several neighborhoods without power and residents feared the potable water in their tanks was going to run out before service is restored.
In the Santo Suarez neighborhood, there were crews digging to replace the damaged power poles. There were also plenty of hungry Cubans standing inline in front of government tents set up to distribute food. Entrepreneurs were selling pork sandwiches for five pesos and there was high demand for cans of soda.