An unusually severe wave of bad weather is hitting the northern part of Cuba todaywhere huge waves washed ashore, flooding roads and causing power outages, while trees were uprooted by strong winds in the capital, Havana.

Wind gusts reached 100 km/h in parts of the western part of the island, with the storm moving further south than Florida, which was hit by similar weather earlier this week.

There were overnight power outages as the bad weather tested the patience of residents of the Cuban capital, who nevertheless took to the streets this morning wearing jackets and hats as the temperature dropped below 12 degrees Celsius. an unusually cold weather for Cuba.

By dawn, some streets had been flooded by the sea and resembled rivers, carrying jellyfish, seaweed and other floating objects several blocks inland.

“This is really something new…we’re not used to this kind of cold,” said Havana resident Jacqueline Dalardes. “The climate has changed.”

Havana, a coastal city built centuries ago on the Gulf of Mexico is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and gale-force winds brought by human-induced climate change, scientists warn.

A third of the more than 2.2 million residents live in flood-prone areas, according to the United Nations Development Programme.