Cubans expressed alarm, with one resident saying it felt as if the country had reached the “bottom of the barrel.”

The electric grid on the island of Cuba went entirely offline Friday after the failure of a major power plant east of Havana, government officials announced.

Cuba`s electrical grid collapsed again early on Saturday morning, state-run media reported, plunging the entire country into blackout for a second time just hours after authorities announced they had begun reestablishing service.