1 of 2 | Tropical Storm Nadine is shown churning through the Gulf of Mexico at 2 p.m. EDT Saturday. It was located 20 miles west-northwest of Belize City and moving in a westerly direction. Image courtesy the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Oct. 19 (UPI) — Hurricane Oscar made landfall in the southwest Bahamas early Sunday, and was bearing down on Cuba, where it is expected to make a second landfall later Sunday.
In its 2 pm EDT update, the National Hurricane Center said Oscar is about 90 miles east-northeast of Guantanamo Bay. A hurricane warning is in effect for the north coast of the Cuban provinces of Holguin and Guantanamo to Punta Maisi.
The arrival of the hurricane will still further complicate life for Cuba’s 10 million residents, who have been dealing with a complete failure of its antiquated power grid all weekend,. Cuba’s essential services are running on generators.
Oscar was named as a tropical storm early Saturday and by mid-afternoon was upgraded to a hurricane by the National Hurricane Center with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, moving west-southwest at 7 mph.
It is projected to make landfall in Cuba later Sunday and then weaken to a tropical storm, the NHC said. But while the storm will be weaker, forecasters say it will dump as much as 15 inches of rain in eastern Cuba through Tuesday.
Some additional strengthening is possible before gradual weakening begins early next week, the NHC said.
The agency also is tracking Tropical Storm Nadine, whose maximum sustained winds had dropped to 30 mph Sunday, the NHC said in the 2 p.m. EDT, but has a 90% chance of strengthening.
Nadine could cause still localized areas of flash flooding and triggered storm warnings along portions of the coasts of Belize and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted between 17 and 24 named storms for the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season, including four classified as major hurricanes of at least Category 3, which has sustained winds of between 111 and 130 mph.
So far, 13 named storms have formed with nine developing into hurricanes and four into major hurricanes.
The four major hurricanes include Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, and Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida on Oct. 9.
Both storms caused widespread destruction and death with Helene ravaging much of the southeastern United States and Milton crossing Florida from west to east.
