Cuba faces second nationwide blackout as Hurricane Rafael strikes

Cuba experienced a nationwide blackout as Hurricane Rafael, a category 3 storm, made landfall on the island's southwest coast. The national power company reported that strong winds caused disconnections in the electrical system, prompting contingency measures. This blackout follows a previous nationwide outage caused by Hurricane Oscar three weeks ago, which resulted from a power plant failure and fuel shortages. Many areas have faced sporadic outages since then, leading to public frustration. Nine provinces, including Havana, are under cyclone alert, with over 70,000 people evacuated. The storm has also affected parts of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, causing flooding and power outages.