“We checked very early the country’s meteorological situation,” the Head of State wrote on X social media. “We are in constant contact with the areas that will suffer the greatest impact of Hurricane Rafael,” Díaz-Canel added.

“We are well prepared and we will immediately begin to recovery efforts. ¡Fuerza Cuba!”, the Cuban leader assured.

According to the Cuban Meteorological Institute (Insmet), the hurricane is expected to pass near or just east of the Isle of Youth (in the south) during the next few hours, making landfall west of Cuba in the afternoon and moving southeast of the Gulf of Mexico during the night.

The Insmet Forecast Center reports that between 15:00 and 16:00 local time, Rafael should bash Cuba as a probable category 3 storm, at a point between Playa Cajío and Playa Dayaniguas, in Artemisa and Pinar del Río, respectively.

The Insmet Tropical Cyclone Warning No. 10 indicates that Hurricane Rafael has continued to rapidly increase in organization and intensity during the morning hours of today, with maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers per hour, making it a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Insmet notes that hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 kilometers (km) from its center, and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 km.

It adds that this system will continue with a similar course and speed of translation, crossing the seas near the Isle of Youth during the morning, and may gain even more intensity before entering land near the southern coast of the provinces of Artemisa and Pinar del Sur.

mh/ga/raj