CUBA: Cuba is without power after Hurricane Ian pummelled the western end of the country, the government of Cuba has said.

The electrical system is experiencing total collapse, after one of the main power plants could not be brought back online, BBC reported.

Two people were reported dead and buildings were damaged nationwide, it said.

The category three hurricane, packing wind speeds of up to 195km/h is now bearing down on Florida, according to the report.

The head of the electrical energy authority announced that an island-wide blackout had occurred as a result of the national electrical system’s breakdown, leaving 11 million people in the dark, it said.

The owner of the famous Finca Robaina cigar producer posted photos on social media of the havoc wreaked by the hurricane in the tobacco farms.

“It was apocalyptic, a real disaster,” BBC quoted Hirochi Robaina as writing on social media.

Forecasters had warned that some regions of Cuba could see up to 30cm (12in) of rain under Hurricane Ian.

Mayelin Suarez, a resident of Pinar del Rio, said Monday night, when the storm hit, was “the darkest of her life”.

“We almost lost the roof off our house,” she told Reuters. “My daughter, my husband and I tied it down with a rope to keep it from flying away.”

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel visited the province and vowed that it would rise “above adversity”, the Cuban presidency tweeted.

(Inputs from BBC)