MIAMI — Hurricane Oscar made landfall on eastern Cuba, an island besieged by a massive power outage, after hitting the southeastern Bahamas earlier Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said of the United States.
Miami said the center of the storm arrived Sunday evening in Cuba’s Guantanamo province, near the city of Baracoa. Its maximum sustained winds were near 80 mph (130 km/h).
Forecasters said 5 to 10 inches of rain are expected in eastern Cuba through Tuesday, with up to 15 inches falling in some isolated places.
Oscar made landfall on the island of Great Inagua, Bahamas, earlier Sunday. This is expected to produce a dangerous storm surge that could result in significant coastal flooding there and other areas of the southeastern Bahamas. Two to four inches of rain were expected, with isolated areas receiving up to six inches.
The center of the storm was located about 10 kilometers east-southeast of Baracoa, or about 80 kilometers east-northeast of Guantanamo. It was heading west-southwest at a speed of 7 mph (11 km/h).
The hurricane’s arrival comes as Cuba attempts to recover from its worst power outage in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.
Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar strengthened into a hurricane on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, the system got away from us a little bit,” Papin said.
Hours earlier, Tropical Storm Nadine had formed off the southern Caribbean coast of Mexico. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.
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