Heavy rains, flooding leave two dead in Cuba

Two days of heavy rains caused extensive flooding and the collapse of part of a building in Havana, killing two people, the official newspaper Granma reported Saturday.

The streets of the Cuban capital were inundated, stranding vehicles and making it difficult to get around.

"Various partial collapses and two deaths were caused yesterday by the continuous rains that had been falling since early in the day, and which have affected localities with vulnerable housing stock," the newspaper said.

It identified the victims as a 54-year-old man and a 60-year-old women, who lived in an old building several stories high that experienced collapses.

Heavy rains have lashed western Cuba since Thursday night "causing large scale floods that totally interrupted traffic on the streets and avenues of various Havana municipalities," it said.

Intense rains also were reported in the western Artemisa province where authorities were preparing evacuations to remove people from dangerous areas.