Many Cubans waited in anguish and some took to the streets in protest as widespread blackouts stretched into their third day.

Fidel Castro once called Cuba’s power plants “prehistoric.” But the country still relies on them, contributing to the longest blackout since the collapse of its former patron, the Soviet Union.

The power outage is happening against the backdrop of Hurricane Oscar, which is anticipated to make landfall in eastern Cuba later on Sunday, bringing damaging and high surf. It made landfall in the Bahamas early Sunday with sustained winds of 80 mph.