MIAMI – Hurricane Oscar formed Saturday off the coast of the Bahamas and brushed past the Turks and Caicos islands to the south during the night.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami characterized the storm as “tiny,” but hurricane warnings were in place for Turks and Caicos, the southeastern Bahamas and the north coast of Cuba in Holguin and Guantanamo provinces. Multiple inches (centimeters) of rain were forecast for those places.
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The storm’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at 85 mph (140 kph) with higher gusts. Its center was located about 70 miles (115 kilometers) West of Grand Turk Island, and it was heading west and expected to reach eastern Cuba Sunday night.
The hurricane's approach comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days this week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.
After arriving in Cuba, according to its forecast path as of Saturday night, Oscar is then expected to do a near U-turn and northeast toward the Bahamas.
Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar became a hurricane Saturday.
“Unfortunately the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.
Hours earlier, Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico's southern Caribbean coast, bringing heavy rain and tropical storm conditions to parts of Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula. It moved inland across Belize and degenerated into a tropical depression.