Tropical Storm Oscar was heading towards the Bahamas this Tuesday after leaving heavy rains and at least 6 deaths in eastern Cuba.
Oscar’s maximum sustained winds were blowing at 65 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour) on Monday as it moved north-northwest at 14 km/h (9 mph). The storm was in the early morning about 115 kilometers (70 miles) south of Long Island, Bahamas, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.
Oscar made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in the eastern province of Guantánamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday afternoon with winds of 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph).
Cubans were already suffering from a prolonged blackout that has left the population without electricity or running water since last week.
It had also made landfall on Saturday in Great Inagua, in the Bahamas, where several residents were evacuated due to damage to their homes.
A tropical storm watch was issued for the central and southeastern Bahamas.
It is not expected to evolve into a hurricane
Oscar is the smallest hurricane on record, with a wind field just 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter, according to hurricane and storm surge expert Michael Lowry.
Lowry noted that no forecast models indicated that Oscar could become a hurricane on Saturday. “It is not often that we see a colossal failure in hurricane forecasting,” he wrote in an analysis published Monday.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kristy formed off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast on Monday. The storm was 510 km (315 miles) south-southwest of Acapulco and was moving west at 26 km/h (16 mph). It had sustained winds of 75 km/h (45 mph), according to the NHC.
Kristy was expected to reach hurricane strength on Wednesday, but would continue to move over open water and pose no threat to land.
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