Many Cubans are waiting in anguish as electricity on much of the island has yet to be totally restored after days of blackout.

Seventy percent of Cuba's population has power again as the island recovers from a nationwide blackout and a hurricane that left seven people dead, the government said Tuesday.

Electricity outages have paralyzed an already-crippled economy, leading to shortages of everything from cash to running water.

Following three days of nationwide blackouts caused by the collapse of Cuba’s electrical system, power was restored to most of Havana on Monday, after Cuban authorities gave up efforts to restore the entire grid for now and opted to try to hook up individual regions around the country.

Many of Cuba’s power plants are outdated and inefficient; some have been in operation for over 50 years without proper maintenance. After the country’s grid collapsed when hurricane Ian hit in 2022, experts warned the government needed to urgently invest in modernizing the system.

The repeated failure of the power grid and a hurricane that has swamped the island’s eastern end has many Cubans fed up, posing a challenge to the Communist government.

Cuba's power-grid operator said it had restored electricity to most of the capital Havana on Monday even as Tropical Storm Oscar lashed the island's eastern end, downing trees and power lines. Strong winds raked the region as the storm stalled over land,

As Cuban authorities were struggling to reconnect the country’s decrepit power grid on Sunday, a category-one hurricane barrelled into the east of the island, dumping heavy rain and lashing the area with winds.