HAVANA: Cuba was left reeling Thursday after a fierce Category 3 hurricane tore across the island, knocking out the country’s power grid.
The full extent of the damage remained unclear through the early hours of the day, but forecasters warned that Hurricane Rafael could bring “life-threatening” storm surges, winds, and flash floods to Cuba after battering parts of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.
On Wednesday evening, massive waves lashed Havana’s shores, while sharp winds and rain whipped through the historic cityscape, leaving trees scattered on flooded roads. Much of the city was dark and deserted.
As it moved across Cuba, the storm weakened to a Category 2 hurricane, churning into the Gulf of Mexico near northern Mexico and southern Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
However, many Cubans were left picking up the pieces from the night before, with a strange sense of déjà vu after a turbulent few weeks in the Caribbean nation.
In October, the island had already been struck by a one-two punch. First, Cuba was rocked by island-wide blackouts that lasted for days, a consequence of the country’s ongoing energy crisis. Shortly afterward, another powerful hurricane hit the eastern part of the island, killing at least six people.
The storm deepened discontent already simmering in Cuba, where an ongoing economic crisis has prompted many to migrate.
While the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Cuba in light of the storm, the Cuban government also raised an alarm, urging citizens to hunker down.
Classes and public transport were suspended in parts of the island, and authorities cancelled flights in and out of Havana and Varadero. Thousands of people in the western part of the island were evacuated as a precautionary measure, and many more, like Silvia Pérez, a 72-year-old retiree living in a coastal area of Havana, scrambled to prepare.
“This is a night I don’t want to sleep through, with the battering wind and the falling trees,” Pérez said. “I’m scared for my friends and family.”
The storm's fury followed its earlier impact on the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, where it also caused flooding and landslides.
Rafael is the 17th named storm of the 2024 season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that the 2024 hurricane season would be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.