The recent experiences of floods in Cuban territory make us return to the manuals of action in the face of extreme events of this nature. Raising risk awareness to preserve life and property should be an individual attitude to be developed among those who live in areas at risk of flooding.
One of the most serious sudden rainfalls recorded in the municipality of Contramaestre in recent years occurred in July 2023, and occurred in the town of Baire, one of the areas at greatest risk of this type of phenomenon. The event affected the inhabitants of three neighborhoods.
One of the villagers pointed out on the wall at the height of her shoulders the level that the waters reached (Approximately 150 cm), with much optimism she revealed that the most important thing is that “we are alive.”
The mountain streams and rivers that meet here are a potential danger to low-lying areas, where they river drains and sewers are insufficient.
Another local resident pointed out that nearby is the Baire River, which when it rises fills some gullies and the water backs up and floods the central highway and populated areas.
After this experience of the past years, some Baire residents take care to keep the drains and sewers clean of garbage or any other material, an elementary measure to reduce the risk of flooding.
Fortunately, each entity has in its possession the Disaster Risk Reduction Plan, an important document that contains the precision of each hazard, the phases and measures that the entities must comply with in the face of each specific hazard.
The municipality of Contramaestrian has 8 zones with flood risks and five with possible landslides, conditioned by the extreme rainfall and the characteristics of the Contramaestrian terrain that descends from south to north from the first foothills of the Sierra Maestra until it reaches the Cauto valley.
Raising the perception of the risk to which the people who inhabit these sites are exposed, and acting in a timely manner in the face of extreme rainfall is a resilient attitude that must be maintained and become part of daily life to save material resources and human life.
