Strongest tornado in 8 decades hits Cuba, hundreds injured

Neighborhood brigades and teams of government workers hacked at fallen trees and hauled chunks of concrete out of collapsed homes Monday as the Cuban capital attempted to recover from what officials called the strongest tornado to hit Cuba in nearly 80 years. (AP)

Three people were dead and hundreds injured, at least 12 in critical condition, after the tornado touched down with estimated winds of 200 mph (320 kph) in three neighborhoods across eastern Havana. (AP)

Around Havana, cars were crushed by fallen light posts and vehicles were trapped in floodwaters. (AP)

A quarter of the city's roughly 2 million people were without power Monday afternoon and more than 200,000 people had lost water service because of a broken main and power cuts that left pumps out of service. (AP)

Some 100 underground cisterns close to the coastal section of Havana were contaminated by seawater. (AP)

Three electric substations were knocked out by the tornado, the strongest to hit Cuba since Dec. 26, 1940, when a Category F4 tornado hit the town of Bejucal, in what is now Mayabeque province, officials said. It also appeared to be the first tornado to hit the capital in at least as many years. (AP)