On the night of 27 January 2019, at 20:20 CST, an unusually violent and destructive

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

ripped through the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n capital

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. The EF4 tornado toppled trees and utility poles, destroyed cars and sent debris flying as it passed through the city. According to the Cuban Meteorology Institute, the tornado was produced by a

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Northern ...

that struck the nation's north coast, but "there were no indications of the anticipated existence of any cloud that fulfilled the characteristics of a classic supercell, nor a minisupercell, and that would explain the development of the intense tornado". At least eight people died and more than 190 were injured.

Background

Tornadoes in Cuba are not a rare occurrence as the island nation has been struck before in its history; the first ever filmed tornado was located in Cuba in 1933. Many of Cuba's tornadoes have intensity ratings of F0 to F2 on the

Fujita scale The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is deter ...

. However, six F3 and three F4 tornadoes have been observed.

Tornado

At 20:20 local time, a tornadic vortex formed near Casino Deportivo, in the Cerro municipality. It traveled generally east-northeast on a path approximately long. The tornado traveled at a speed of with wind speeds of approximately ~ At around 20:46 local time, the tornado entered the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

via Celimar in Habana del Este. By that time, the tornado had significantly weakened and was dissipating. Initially, the width of the vortex was in diameter, but increased to along most of its path. It was assigned an official rating of EF4 on the

Enhanced Fujita scale The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated as EF-Scale) rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage they cause. It is used in some countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Mongolia. The Enhanced Fujita scale repl ...

by the Cuban Meteorology Institute, making this the first F4 or EF4 tornado in Cuba since 1940.

Damage

The tornado inflicted the greatest damage in the central and eastern parts of Havana, where numerous well-built masonry homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Concrete frame buildings sustained major structural damage, and cars were thrown or crushed under debris. The municipalities most affected were Diez de Octubre, Cerro,

Guanabacoa Guanabacoa is a colonial township in eastern Havana, Cuba, and one of the 15 municipalities (or boroughs) of the city. It is famous for its historical Santería and is home to the first African Cabildo in Havana. Guanabacoa was briefly the capital ...

Regla Regla () is one of the 15 municipalities or boroughs (''municipios'' in Spanish) in the city of Havana, Cuba. It comprises the town of Regla, located at the bottom of Havana Bay in a former aborigine settlement named ''Guaicanamar'', Loma Model ...

, and

San Miguel del Padrón San Miguel del Padrón is one of the 15 municipalities/boroughs ('' municipios'' in Spanish) and one of the 4 subdivisions into which the city of Havana, Cuba is divided. It is on Havana's south-eastern outskirts, stretching from Ciudad Mar to Di ...

. At least 1,238 of the 4,800 homes affected were seriously damaged, with 500 totally destroyed and 757 partially. At least 224 homes had completely lost their roof and 124 lost part of it. Nineteen medical infrastructures suffered extensive damage, including

polyclinic A polyclinic (where ''poly'' means "many"; not to be confused with the homonym policlinic, where ''poli'' means "city" and which is sometimes used for a hospital's outpatient department) is a clinic or health care facility that provides both gen ...

s, general practitioner clinics, nursing homes and

pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...

. The Obstetrics-Gynecology Teaching Hospital sustained the worst damage. Another hospital; the Hijas de Galicia Maternity Hospital was also damaged, and patients and staff had to be evacuated. Eighty schools were also structurally affected. Many school buildings suffered structural damage to roofs and walls. A further 21 day care facilities were damaged, and numerous trees and power poles were snapped along the path.

Casualties

Early reports by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Miguel Díaz-Canel Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel y Bermúdez (; born 20 April 1960) also known as MADCB, is a politician and engineer who is the third first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Díaz-Canel succeeds the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro, making ...

said there were three deaths and 172 injures in a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

post. Later, according to

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, eight people were killed and over 190 were injured. Ten people suffered life-threatening injuries. Among the fatalities was a 54-year-old woman who died when the tornado tore through her house while searching for a shelter to hide in. Another man died when his home collapsed onto him. Two people initially hospitalized also succumbed to their injuries. The

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

and UN Cuban headquarters reported that 253,682 were directly affected by the destructive tornado, with 80,000 people in the direct path. Of the 9,937 people evacuated, at least 9,413 were living in the homes of friends and families while 524 were placed in government shelters. Over 144,000 residents did not have access to electricity after the disaster,; some still remained without power over a week later.

Response

Rescue and recovery operations began immediately after the tornado. On 27 January, at 20:00, President Bermúdez arranged a meeting with the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

to discuss the progress made on recovery efforts. He was informed by ministers of the damage and casualties in the affected areas. Private businesses were also involved in the provision and distribution of basic needs such as clothing and food to needing individuals. Several musical artists organized

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

s and personally distributed aid to the affected.

References

{{2019 tornado outbreaks Tornado Havana Havana Tornado Tornado Havana Tornado 2019 Havana Tornado Havana Tornado