The latest storm information from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the center of Hurricane Oscar made landfall in Cuba's Guantanamo province, near the city of Baracoa, on the evening of October 20. The strongest sustained winds of Category 1 hurricane Oscar when making landfall in Cuba reached 130 km/h.
Forecasters said that due to the impact of Oscar, rainfall of 130-250mm is expected across eastern Cuba through October 22, with some areas likely to see heavy rain of up to 380mm. Hours earlier, Oscar made its first landfall in the southeastern Bahamas.
Hurricane forecasters at the center expect Oscar to weaken after making landfall in Cuba but maintain the intensity of a tropical storm as it moves north of Cuba late on October 21. The latest storm of the 2024 hurricane season is expected to pass through the central Bahamas on October 22.
USA Today's latest hurricane report also notes that Oscar made landfall in Cuba as millions of people across the island were without power. Cuba's power grid crashed on October 20 - the fourth time in 48 hours.
Cuba first lost power on the afternoon of October 18 when the island's largest power plant stopped working, according to Reuters. The power grid then collapsed again on the morning of October 19. Cuba has made progress in restoring the power grid before a third power outage occurred on the evening of October 19.
Cuba has closed schools until October 23 to prevent the impact of Oscar and power outages.
AccuWeather forecasters have feared Oscar could strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane. Jon Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, warned: "Heavy rains falling on steep terrain in southeastern Cuba have raised serious concerns about major flash floods and landslides. The combination of these factors could lead to a humanitarian crisis in parts of southeastern Cuba if the stronger Oscar passes near or even makes landfall in Cuba."
"The impact of the storm on Cuba is extremely worrying as the current electricity crisis in Cuba. Another storm that makes landfall amid the current power outage could make the storm's impact much worse, further endangering human life and leading to challenges in preparing, responding to and recovering from the storm's impact," he added.
Oscar is the 10th hurricane of the 2024 hurricane season, marking the 10th time in the Atlantic hurricane book that a season could produce as many hurricanes, according to hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach, Colorado State University, USA.
According to Fox News, Oscar rapidly intensified, shocking forecasters. On October 18, Oscar was a low pressure area that seemed unlikely to strengthen. By October 19, Oscar had rapidly intensified. No computer forecasting model predicted Oscar's sudden development. Hurricane warnings were hastily issued for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Rapidly intensifying storms is extremely unusual but has happened before, such as Hurricane Humberto in 2007. Humberto strengthened from a tropical depression into a hurricane in one day just off the coast of Texas, setting a record for increase in intensity and strength.
