Evacuees from Granma return home.

Faced with extensive flooding caused by the rains associated with Hurricane Melissa, which struck the eastern provinces, the defense councils of Las Tunas and Granma implemented a plan to protect the families in the Cauto River basin.

María Elena could have her 15 birthday party.

At the Simón Bolívar Mixed School, amidst questions and arrangements, many volunteers approached to offer help. When asked what she needed, her answer was simple and repeated: “I don’t want anything; the only thing I want is for my dad to be with us. If my dad is here, my happiness is complete.”

Rescue in Guamo.

A distress call mobilized rescue teams from the Red Cross and the Las Tunas Fire Department to the municipality of Guamo, one of the areas hardest hit by flooding that followed Hurricane Melissa in eastern Cuba.

Raúl Aldana Álvarez

There was a feeling that could not be erased, the face of Hurricane Flora, the water that took everything in 1963. When Raúl Aldana Álvarez, 72, from the town of Guamo in the Río Cauto municipality, was told that Melissa was coming strong, that image came back suddenly and forced him to decide quickly. It wasn't just out of fear; it was because of the memory of what happens when you stay.

Soldier Yisandro Hernández Hernández.

Yisandro Hernández Hernández, a soldier in the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), is serving his active military service in the nation's capital. He is a farmer alongside his father in Pinar del Río; yes, that same land that just over a year ago was ravaged by a hurricane.