miami, florida — Hurricane Oscar has made landfall in eastern Cuba, an island beleaguered by a massive power outage, after striking the southeastern Bahamas earlier in the day Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The hurricane center in Miami said the storm's center arrived in the Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. Its maximum sustained winds were near 130 km/h (80 mph).
The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba Sunday night and Monday. Forecasters said 15.2 to 30.5 centimeters (6 to 12 inches) of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 45.72 centimeters (18 inches). A storm surge of up to 0.91 meters (3 feet) in some areas of Cuba's north shore in the area was possible, the center said.
Oscar was expected to weaken over eastern Cuba before making a turn to the northeast and approaching the central Bahamas on Tuesday, the center said.
The storm's center was located about 10 kilometers (5 miles) east-southeast of Baracoa, or about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east-northeast of Guantanamo. It was heading west-southwest at 11 km/h (7 mph).
Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday. It was expected to produce a dangerous storm surge that could translate into significant coastal flooding there and in other areas of the southeastern Bahamas. Five to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) of rainfall were expected, with isolated areas seeing up to 15.2 centimeters (6 inches).
The hurricane's arrival 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.
