Cuba Hit by Second Blackout After Hurricane Rafael Tears Across Island

Cuba’s national electricity grid has been knocked out for the second time in two weeks, after Hurricane Rafael, a category 3 storm, hit the island. Massive waves hit the shoreline in the capital, Havana, on Wednesday night as heavy rain and strong winds buffeted the darkened city. Forecasters warned Hurricane Rafael—which has already struck Jamaica and the Cayman Islands—could bring “life-threatening” storm surges and flash floods to Cuba. Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez—who succeeded Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, in 2021—wrote on X on Wednesday night: “I spoke with the first secretaries of the Party in the territories most affected by the hurricane, Rafael, where we will be tomorrow morning from the first hour to have more precise assessments on the ground. A new recovery process is already beginning.”...