Cuba restored a trickle of power to its grid by mid-evening on Friday, officials said, hours after the island plunged into a countrywide blackout following the collapse of one of its major power plants.

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

Cuba’s electrical grid went offline after one of the island’s major power plant failed, the energy ministry said.

Cuba's national grid collapsed on Friday, leaving the entire population of 10 million people without electricity and underscoring the precarious state of the Communist-run country's infrastructure and economy.

Cuba’s electrical grid went down Friday after one of the island’s major power plants failed, a day after a massive blackout swept across the Caribbean island and with no official estimate for when service will be restored.

CubaDebate, one of the islands state-run media outlets, said Cuba`s grid operator, UNE, had reported at 6:15AM the "total disconnection of the national electro-energetic system." "The Electric Union is working on its reestablishment,

Cuba plunged into a countrywide blackout on Friday after one of the island's major power plants failed and caused the national electrical grid to shut down, its energy ministry said.

A growing energy crisis reached a crescendo Friday, as the country’s main power plant suddenly shut down, cutting off electricity to millions of Cubans.

WHY DID THE GRID COLLAPSE? Cuba's electrical grid and oil-fired power plants are obsolete and crumbling, constructed decades ago and scarcely maintained. And because Cuba produces very little fossil fuel of its own - with limited refining capacity - it depends almost entirely on imports to assure adequate generation.

Cuba’s electrical grid went down Friday after one of the island’s major power plants failed, a day after a massive blackout swept across the Caribbean island and with no official estimate for when service will be restored.