MOST OF CUBA HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY DROUGHT IN PAST YEAR

Three-quarters of Cuban territory has been affected by the lack of rainfall between September 2014 and August 2015, a drought that has been severe to extreme in 25 percent of that area, according to figures compiled by the island’s Climate Center, or Cenclim, and released on Monday.

In 26 percent of the affected territory, the drought has been characterized as moderate and in another 25 percent as mild, according to a Cenclim bulletin published by state-run media.

The experts at the center, which is part of the Meteorology Institute of Cuba, warned that the drought situation will continue in the coming months due to the “significant scarcity” of rainfall on the island during the current hurricane season, when Cuba normally receives most of its rain for the year.

Generally, September is one of the rainiest months in Cuba because the influence of the Atlantic anticyclone diminishes considerably compared to July and August, meaning that – combined with the frequent passage of tropical waves and tropical low pressure areas – it fosters an increase in precipitation.

September, too, along with October, is the month in which most tropical storms form in the region, weather events that are usually accompanied by heavy rains.

The prolonged drought in Cuba, the most serious in the last 115 years, is causing damage to agriculture and problems with water supply at various places around the island, where the population is being supplied using cistern trucks.

In Havana, the Confrontation Group formed to deal with the drought in the province of Havana on Monday began supplying water to more than 82,000 people using 137 state vehicles.