As it has been said, the affected region was the jurisdiction of Matanzas whose head, with range of general command, was located in the city of San Carlos de Matanzas. This was at the time a flourishing city, as much in the social as in the cultural and, of course, in the economic fields. According to Márquez (1926), in 1864 the City had 4 670 houses and two churches.

As for the mercantile activity, it occupied the second place among the cities of the Island. The biggest wealth in the region was related with its agricultural and industrial potential, consistent in 127 sugar mills, 29 coffee plantations, 416 herdsmen and 1 170 farms (ibídem).

According to data from the Census, the population of the jurisdiction of Matanzas was formed in 1867 by 48 655 white, 6 936 free people of color and 32 219 slaves. Total: 87 810 inhabitants (Márquez, 1926). Of that total, to the city of Matanzas corresponded: 30 539 inhabitants (35%). The population of Cuba was then of a million and half of people, approximately.

The meteor produced damages of consideration in an extensive part of the Island, laying approximately between the meridians 81º and 82º W. The human and economic damages were enormous in the whole region affected by the hurricane, but in the center of the city they reached catastrophic proportions due to the great extension of the flood.

As consequence of the flood and the collapsing of the bridges, the city was completely isolated. Initially, those damaged took refuge in Government's House and later they were transferred toward the Theater Esteban.

The different sources don't coincide as for the number of casualties caused by the disaster. While some figures appear of between 400 and 500 fatal victims, in other this number is risen to more than 2 000. Nevertheless, the magazine Aurora del Yumurí (1870a) stands among the most reliable references, since it belongs to the own city. This publication locates the number of deaths in around 800.

We think that the first two figures (400 or 500) may refer to the number of bodies found; while that of 2000 deaths, mentioned previously, is somewhat exaggerated, probably as consequence of the strong emotional impact that the catastrophe produced on the local authorities. The number of 800 seems more adequate as it was published two weeks after the events related with the hurricane, time enough to carry out a recount of what happened and to determine with more precision the quantity of the missing. Only in the area between Ojo de Agua and the neighborhood of Versalles about 75 dead were found, among drowned and missing. It’s been assured that the waves deposited in the beaches, to the South of the city, numerous bodies of drowned people.

They were calculated in 410 the number of houses completely destroyed, 110 of them masonry houses and 300 wooden (Anonymous, 1870a), although this number probably refers only to the city.

Of the three great bridges with which the city of Matanzas counted at the time, two were totally destroyed: that of the Concord (with metal structure) and the one of Bailen (of cantería stone), the first over the riverbanks of the Yumurí and the second on the San Juan. San Luis' bridge, built on the last of the mentioned rivers, was left in very bad state. The economic losses, only keeping in mind the cost of construction of the bridge of Bailen, ascended to 100 thousand pesos (Anonymous, 1870a).

A hanging bridge, of metallic structure, built on the river Cañas, was separated from its seats and transported at “long distance”. Another bridge, this in the area of Coliseo, was also reported as seriously affected (ibídem).

The impetuous current dragged all of the warehouses located on the riverbanks of the river San Juan, some of which possessed steel structure. With it the value of the goods and that of the own buildings got lost. In the relationship of losses there are only named the 16 bigger facilities of this type, all destroyed. Among the materials and goods deposited in the riverbanks of the river, there were 12 heavy iron boilers, dedicated to the sugar mills of the region: all disappeared crawled by the current.

The buildings dedicated to slaughterhouse of cattle, the houses nearby the Square of the Market and others located between the street Two of May and the Heights of Simpson, were also dragged by the waters. Two tanneries located beside the Yumurí were seriously damaged, being considered the losses in 50 000 duros (250000 pesetas).

The infrastructure of the railroads of the bay was seriously affected by the water that, among other destruction, razed the embankments on which the lines settled and derailed the cars of the train (Anonymous, 1870b). Only the buildings and houses built on the high areas survived of the assault of the water, although in a house built in the heights of La Cumbre, serious damages were reported as result of the battering of the wind.

Most of the references rise the economic losses to a total of six million pesos in the city of Matanzas, and a12 millions in the whole Jurisdiction, considerable figures for the time.