No deaths were reported after the Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people across eastern Cuba ahead of the storm.

Residents are now slowly starting to return home.

A televised Civil Defense meeting chaired by President Miguel Díaz-Canel did not provide an official estimate of the damage.

However, officials from the affected provinces — Santiago, Granma, Holguín, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas — reported losses of roofs, power lines and fiber optic telecommunications cables, as well as roads cut off, isolating communities, and heavy losses in banana, cassava and coffee plantations.

Many communities were still without electricity, internet, and telephone service due to downed transformers and power lines.

In an unusual statement Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the United States was “ready to assist the Cuban people.”

A press release said the U.S. “is prepared to provide immediate humanitarian assistance directly and through local partners who can deliver it more effectively to those in need.”

The statement did not specify how the cooperation would be coordinated or whether contact had been made with the Cuban government, with which it maintains a bitter conflict that includes six decades of economic and financial sanctions.

Heavy equipment began to clear blocked roads and highways and the military helped rescue people trapped in isolated communities and at risk from landslides.

AP Video by Ariel Fernández