Hurricane Oscar made landfall early Sunday in the southeastern Bahamas and was heading toward Cuba, an island recently beleaguered by a massive power outage.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm’s center arrived on Great Inagua island. It is expected to produce a dangerous storm surge that could translate into significant coastal flooding there and in other areas of the southeastern Bahamas. Two to 4 inches of rainfall are expected, with isolated areas seeing up to 6 inches.
Forecasters said 5 to 10 inches of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through Tuesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 15 inches.
Oscar formed Saturday off the coast of the Bahamas and brushed past the Turks and Caicos islands to the south.
The National Hurricane Center earlier characterized the storm as “tiny,” but hurricane warnings were in place Sunday for southeastern Bahamas and portions of Cuba.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at 80 mph with higher gusts. Its center was about 150 miles east-northeast of Guantanamo, Cuba. The storm was heading west at 12 mph and was expected to reach Guantanamo or Holguin, Cuba, on Sunday afternoon at hurricane strength.
The hurricane’s approach comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout 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 became a hurricane Saturday.
“Unfortunately the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.
Hours earlier Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.