Tornado Rips Havana Leaving 3 People Dead, 174 Hurt

A rare tornado ripped through three working class districts of Havana around midnight, leaving at least three dead and scores injured, state-run media reported.

This was the first twister to hit the Cuban capital in decades.

The Cuban capital was battered late Sunday and early Monday by powerful winds and heavy rains. A blackout hit many Havana neighborhoods around 9 p.m.

Early Monday, President Miguel Diaz-Canel posted photos of himself on Twitter with rescue workers beside what appeared to be a vehicle overturned by the storm. Little further information about the storm appeared in state media.

Photos posted by Cuban media and Havana residents on Twitter showed cars crushed by fallen light posts and cars trapped in floodwaters around the city. One local radio station said on Twitter that the neighborhoods of Regla and 10 de Octobre and the town of San Miguel de Padrón had been affected by the tornado.

The reports of deaths and injuries were preliminary as rescue workers combed through damaged buildings in the blacked-out neighborhoods where much of the housing is dilapidated.