Cuba Prepares for Hurricane Melissa

Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández reports from Santiago de Cuba, where Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall early Wednesday morning. The weather is shifting fast, and residents are racing to prepare before the storm hits.

Melissa is expected to be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit Cuba this century, with sustained winds of up to 180 mph. The Cuban government has evacuated hundreds of thousands of people, especially those living close to the water and in houses with weak infrastructure.

Cuba has long been considered an example in disaster response, especially in the prevention of deaths in the face of hurricanes. But with the island in a deep economic crisis fueled by U.S. sanctions that have included numerous nationwide blackouts, resources to face natural disasters are limited.

Stay tuned for on-the-ground updates from Belly of the Beast.

This story was reported in collaboration with Breakthrough News @BreakThroughNews

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