Hurricane Oscar made landfall in the southeastern Bahamas early Sunday and was headed toward Cuba.
Oscar, which the Hurricane Center characterized as “very small,” is the 15th named storm of the hurricane season. It formed as a tropical storm just east of the Turks and Caicos Islands on Saturday and quickly turned into a hurricane.
It broke out early Sunday morning off the coast of Great Inagua in the Bahamas and is expected to reach Guantanamo or Holguin, Cuba, by late afternoon or evening. It was expected to hit the Bahamas again on Tuesday, but at a different point in the chain.
Forecasters said hurricane conditions remained in the Bahamas as of 5 a.m. ET Sunday.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The hurricane center said eastern Cuba could see 5 to 10 inches of rain through Tuesday, with up to 15 inches possible in some places, while 2 to 4 inches was expected in the southeastern Bahamas.
The governments of the Bahamas and Cuba have issued hurricane warnings for Punta Maisi from the southeastern Bahamas and northern coasts of Cuba’s Holguin and Guantanamo provinces. The Cuban government also issued a hurricane warning for the northern coast of Las Tunas province.
Oscar was expected to weaken after making landfall, but could still become a tropical storm as it moves north of Cuba and continues on a path set to cross the central Bahamas on Monday night.
Maximum sustained wind speeds for the storm were recorded at 80 mph as of 8 a.m. ET Sunday. Its center was located approximately 16 miles southwest of Great Inagua Island, and it moved west-southwest at 12 miles per hour. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to eight miles from the center of the storm.
NOAA/NESDIS/Star Goes East
atlantic ocean hurricane season It officially begins on June 1st and ends on November 30th. Most activity takes place between mid-August and mid-October. Hurricane activity tends to peak in mid-September, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In Florida, Gulf Coast communities are suffering from the effects of back-to-back hurricanes. hurricane helen It hit the area less than two weeks after the hurricane. Milton Arrived.
