Tropical Storm "Oscar" headed for the Bahamas after bringing torrential rains to eastern Cuba yesterday, the Associated Press reported, citing BTA.
The maximum wind speed has reached 65 km/h, and the storm is moving north-northeast at a speed of 14 km/h. This morning "Oscar" was about 115 km south of Long Island, Bahamas, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the central and southeastern parts of the Bahamas.
Specialist Michael Lowry noted that "Oscar" is the smallest hurricane on record with a diameter of only about 10 km. He emphasized that none of the predictive models showed that "Oscar" could become a hurricane before making landfall in the Bahamas. "It's not often that we see a colossal failure in hurricane forecasting," he wrote in an analysis published yesterday.
"Oscar" was a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 120 km/h when it made landfall in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the town of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. At least six people died when the storm passed through Cuba, where more than a third of the population is already without electricity, four days after a major power outage, AFP reported.
"Unfortunately, six people died in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said. Bad weather has also affected the town of Imias in the same province, where flooding has reached historically unprecedented levels.
"The Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior are taking the lead in the rescue operations in these Guantanamo municipalities, where some areas are still inaccessible," said the head of state on the "X" social network.
After entering Cuban territory, the hurricane weakened to a tropical storm and finally moved away from Cuba last night.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Christi is forming off the southern Pacific coast of Mexico. The storm is located 510 km southwest of Acapulco and moving west at 26 km/h. According to data from the National Hurricane Center, its sustained winds are 75 km/h. Forecasts indicate that "Christie" will strengthen to a hurricane tomorrow, but will continue to move over water without threatening land.