HAVANA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Seven people have died and two are missing in Cuba following heavy rains and flooding this week in the central and western provinces, island's civil defense agency said on Saturday.
In an official statement published in the daily Granma, the country's main disaster relief agency said all seven victims were men who drowned when trying to swim across overflowing rivers.
The victims were from the western province of Pinar del Rio and central Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara and Matanzas provinces.
The two missing men are from Villa Clara and Ciego de Avila. One was last seen swimming across a river, the other disappeared under unknown circumstances.
Heavy rains brought by subtropical storm Alberto sparked flooding, inundating thousands of homes. Some 51,000 Cubans were evacuated from the affected areas.
Recovery efforts are now underway to repair about 1,500 homes, of which 174 houses totally collapsed.
One of the nation's main oil refineries in Cienfuegos was forced to shut down operations due to the heavy floods that hours later caused an oil spill in the city's bay. Local authorities have managed to stem the spill.
In the agricultural sector, the damage has been substantial, particularly affecting crops like rice, beans, tobacco and bananas.
The Zaza dam, the largest in Cuba, has accumulated over 900 million cubic meters of water, and is now at 100 percent capacity.
Last year, Cuba was severely affected by Hurricane Irma, which left 10 people dead, forced 1.7 million people to evacuate, and caused estimated losses of 13 billion U.S. dollars.
