3 dead, 172 injured when rare tornado hits Havana

A tornado ripped through three neighborhoods in eastern Havana on Sunday night, killing at least three people, injuring 172 more, and destroying dozens of homes.

Miguel Angel Hernandez of the Cuban Center for Meteorology said the tornado was a Category F3, with winds between 155 and 199 mph, The Associated Press reports. This was the strongest tornado to hit Cuba in almost eight decades; a Category 4 touched town in Bejucal on Dec. 26, 1940. Sunday night's tornado was produced by a cold front hitting the northern coast of the country.

Officials said that at least 90 homes are completely destroyed, while 30 are heavily damaged. Roofs were torn off by the high winds, and light posts were uprooted, crashing down on cars. On Monday afternoon, about 500,000 people were still without power, and more than 200,000 did not have water.

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