The Chief of Staff of the Eastern Army, Brigadier General Florencio Navas, speaking by telephone with the country’s top leadership after surveying the region by helicopter, explained that the town of Rio Cauto was surrounded by massive flooding.

He added that part of the railway line, where some 800 people had previously been evacuated, was underwater, making it impossible to repeat the operation at that time.

The President of the National Defense Council, Miguel Diaz-Canel, insisted on acting with the greatest possible speed, sparing no effort or resources to preserve human lives, and keeping the population informed.

The provincial governor, Yudelkis Ortiz, informed Diaz-Canel about a locomotive en route from Camaguey, intended to evacuate some 2,000 residents of Guamo town and transport them to Las Tunas city, where approximately 1,400 people from Granma province had already been evacuated.

From helicopters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which carried out rescue operations in recent hours, it was also confirmed that agricultural plantations and small villages were submerged beneath the turbulent waters of the Cauto River.

jdt/arc/bbb