Cuba experiences massive power outage, resulting in total blackout on island

The entire country of Cuba went dark on Friday after a failure at a major power plant on the island resulted in a massive power outage. 

The failure comes after millions of Cubans have already been without power over the past few days, because of ongoing issues with its electrical grid that have caused it to collapse. The total plunge has been ongoing since 11 a.m. Eastern.

Cuban officials have blamed multiple issues for the failure, including disruptions on the island caused by hurricanes, the country's infrastructure, and increased U.S. economic sanctions, according to CNN.

Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz has urged workers to stay home as much as possible this week to save power, and officials have suspended classes and canceled non-essential services.

"The situation has worsened in recent days,” Marrero said in a special address, per the Associated Press. “We must be fully transparent ... we have been halting economic activities to ensure energy for the population.”

Marrero added that a fuel shortage has also contributed to the power outage, but shipments were on its way to help restore power.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.