Images of devastation from Hurricane Ian: Despair in the US – Heavy damage to Havana cigars in Cuba

It’s devastating passage of Cyclone Ian from the USA and Cuba. At least one person has died in Florida after tobacco dryers for Havana cigars were destroyed, leaving producers in a state of despair.

Cyclone Ian, which hit on the night of Wednesday (9/28) into Thursday Florida caused great destruction in some cities, in the south.

The magnitude of the disaster is characterized by “historic proportions” by experts.

A spokesman for Volusia County, on Florida’s east coast, said “the first death linked to Ian” had been reported. It’s a 72-year-old man who came out of his home to empty the pool during the storm, Kevin Captain said.

A little earlier, Gov. Ron DeSandis spoke of two deaths but “they are not yet confirmed because we don’t know if they are related” to the bad weather. He did not specify where those two deaths were reported or if they included the 72-year-old from Volusia.

Biden promised to go to Florida “when conditions permit” to personally thank those involved in the rescue and reconstruction efforts.

When asked if he also plans to visit Puerto Rico, which was hit by Hurricane Fiona, he said that is his “intention.”

The Democratic president also responded sharply to a question about conversations he had with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, one of his fiercest political rivals and critics. “It’s about saving lives and homes, that’s what it’s about. I spoke to him four to five times and this has nothing to do with our disagreements on other issues,” he stressed.

Biden also promised to make all necessary federal funds available to Florida. “We will rebuild it in cooperation with the State and local authorities”, he underlined.

Destruction in Cuba

“It’s a disaster,” Maritsa Carpio says sadly, seeing what’s left of her dryer. In the west Cubawhere the best tobacco for the famous cigars is grown, the passage of Cyclone Ian was devastating for this sector, which is vital to the local economy.

In the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río province, which was hit hard by the cyclone, few dryers withstood the 200km/h winds. “We have never experienced a disaster of this scale,” explained Carpio, from her farm in San Luis, 175 kilometers west of Havana.

Against the background of the deep economic crisis that the country is experiencing, “the situation is extremely difficult for all growers, we don’t know how to deal with all this,” he added.

In addition to the winds that tore apart the dryers (wooden structures with palm-leaf roofs that allow the tobacco leaves to get the “right” dose of sun and moisture), torrential rains drowned the fields that growers were preparing for October sowing.

“We’ve had a headache, now sowing will be delayed,” says Sergio Luis Martinez, 59, who also lost his dryer in Pinar del Rio.

Vuelta Abajo is the only region in the country where three types of tobacco are grown, from which the famous Havana cigars are made, an important img of income for the island. In San Luis, 226 tons of tobacco, from the August harvest, “disappeared”, as reported by local television.

In 2021 cigar exports from Cuba reached $568 million, a 15 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to Habanos SA which markets all Cuban brands.

Ian did not spare the public company Tabacuba either, which buys from private producers 95% of their harvest: its sorting center, sheds and offices were damaged.

Two people died from the cyclone that hit the province of Pinar del Rio. For precautionary reasons, approximately 50,000 residents were evacuated from their homes. The power grid was also severely damaged, leaving 11.2 million people in the dark. Power has yet to be restored, two days later, in western Cuba.

In a matter of hours, Ian leveled decades of work. On Maritsa Karpio’s farm, many trees were uprooted, a new banana plantation was completely destroyed. “Here was the countryside, you used to say what a beautiful landscape, now everything is ruined,” said the owner, who hosts her neighbor, 59-year-old Caridad Alvarez, whose house was demolished.

The consequences are not only financial but also emotional for Carpio. “It was a farm that my grandfather built, it was continued by my father who died in April at the age of 93,” he says. Production this year reached 4.8 tonnes of cigar tobacco leaves but Carpio knows she will have to rebuild the farm in record time to catch up with sowing. And he also knows that this will be very difficult without the support of the government.