Six people have died as a result of heavy rains that have hit eastern and central regions of Cuba in recent days, causing widespread material damage, according to the latest casualty count released by the authorities through official media.

The rains, which started on Thursday, gradually eased at the beginning of the week. The waters are receding in several provinces and thousands of residents who had to leave their homes are beginning to return, according to the Granma newspaper.

Six people died, four in the provinces of Granma, Las Tunas and Santiago de Cuba (east) and another two in the province of Camaguey (central), according to the same source.

“Without a doubt, this is an unusual phenomenon,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said during a video conference meeting with self-government officials.

“Although in our country we are used to working when heavy rains occur, this is directly linked to climate change,” he added, according to Granma.

According to the head of state, “flooding reached levels we had not seen before in the last thirty years and in many locations residents said it was the first time the water reached such heights, especially after an extreme drought.”

Provinces in the eastern part of the country have been affected by drought for months.

Bridges, roads, drainage systems were damaged, as were hundreds of homes. Thousands of acres of crops, especially sugar cane, were destroyed.