Cuba is working to restore power after the hurricane blackout

Officials in Cuba have begun restoring power after the country suffered a nationwide blackout on Wednesday caused by Hurricane Rafael, the country's president said.

Hurricane Rafael brought strong winds with speeds of up to 185 km/h (115 miles per hour) and caused a shutdown of the country's power grid for the second time in just a few weeks.

At least 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the storm made landfall on Wednesday amid warnings of storm surges, flash floods and mudslides.

No deaths were reported.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque and the capital Havana had been hit hard.

“Every step from this point forward is focused on recovery. Together we will do it,” he added.

The hurricane caused widespread flooding and property damage in the west of the country. Most of the country's 10 million residents are still without electricity.

In Havana, residents used shovels, brooms and buckets to clear away trash, mud and branches as they surveyed the damage on Thursday.

Fallen utility poles lined the highway from the west of the capital to Artemisa, and towns along the route were littered with tree branches and debris from damaged homes.

An Artemisa resident said people had to “improvise” to cope with the power outages.

“If you don’t have gas, you have to improvise with coal,” said Elias Perez.

“Yesterday my wife and I got by on coal. It’s a mess, but we have to move on.”

Last month, millions of people in Cuba were left without power for four days after problems with the country's old energy infrastructure led to a blackout.

This power outage also coincided with Hurricane Oscar, a less severe category one storm that left a trail of destruction along the island's northeast coast.

Natalia Martinez, also from Artemisa, said: “We know how to survive, we're in the dark all the time, you know.”