Has anyone information on how the Cuban railways have fared along the northwest coast following Irma? While the 100 mile Hershey Electric from the east side of Havana's Harbour to Matanzas is generally a few miles from the ocean in the higher lands, the wooden poles serving the electrical overhead must have suffered in the high winds and there must have been flood and washouts in valleys and ravines. Hopefully the facilities and equipment at the centre in Hershey are not badly damaged.
Not saying they weren't hard hit, but whatever happened there I'm sure the Cubans can deal with it, they've been dealing with hurricanes for over 400 years.
Has to be old stuff for them by now.
As a matter of fact part, if not most, of the loss of life in the Galveston hurricane of 1900, known as the "Galveston Horror," 6,000-plus dead, was due to the US Weather Service of the time ignoring telegraphed warnings from the Cuban weather service telling their American counterparts "Senores, this is a BAD one! Evacuate your coasts NOW!"
Sadly, racism played a part. "Those 'greasers' in Cuba, what do they know?" In the end, they knew plenty.
There was a song written about the "Galveston Horror." Here it is, performed by the Chad Mitchell Trio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGgVAfy7p3U
Here is a link to a Thread from the Forum (dated: Mar. 2016).
Topic was 'The Hersey Company's Sugar Mill and Railways in Cuba'
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/p/255624/2862044.aspx#2862044
It contains several linked sites, and some maps, and equipment scaled views, for equipment of those systems.
Judging from recent broadcasts by various Television Chanels; Hurricane Irma skirted, and rode parallel to the North Shore of Cuba; as a Cat.4/5 strength storm. One can pretty well assume that there is tremendous damage across the Island of Cuba from storm surges and high winds. Not to mention what is going to happen up the Florida penninsula during its passage there.
According to a post on Tripadvisor, there has been no service on the Hershey Line. This would include the main interurban Line from Havana/Casablanca to Matanzas, plus electric and diesel spurs. No word as to whether the line will be repaired.
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