Heavy rains damage over 200 buildings in Cuban capital

More than 200 buildings in Cuba's capital Havana suffered partial or total collapse as a result of three days of heavy rains, official daily Granma reported Tuesday. Francisco Sanchez, secretary of the local Assembly of People's Power, said heavy rains affected six city districts, where 26 buildings collapsed completely and another 201 partially collapsed, killing two people and leaving 627 families homeless, according to the daily. Authorities also evacuated 841 people to temporary shelters, while another 1,399 were forced to stay with relatives, friends or neighbors, Sanchez was quoted as saying. Those evacuated cannot return to their homes until the buildings have been inspected, he added. Of the more than 700,000 residences in Havana, there is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site with numerous colonial-era buildings, 12 percent of which is in "poor" condition, Sanchez warned. Heavy rains fell on eastern Cuba from Thursday to early Sunday, as a result of a northern cold front that mixed with atmospheric precipitation coming from south. In just 24 hours, as much as 26.7 cm of rain fell in parts of the capital, Granma reported. However, it is not uncommon for buildings to collapse after a downpour in the oldest quarters of Havana. The National Statistics Bureau says 85 percent of the city's 3 million residences are in regular or poor condition.