Cuba left reeling after Category 3 hurricane ravages island and knocks out power grid

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba was left reeling Thursday after a fierce Category 3 hurricane ripped across the island, destroying hundreds of homes, knocking out the country’s power grid and damaging other infrastructure.

No fatalities were immediately reported in Cuba, and Hurricane Rafael had weakened to a Category 2 storm as it swirled across the gulf toward Mexico where heavy rains were expected in the coming days.

Rafael crossed a western portion of Cuba on Wednesday evening about 75 kilometers (45 miles) west of Havana, where José Ignacio Dimas returned home from his night shift as a security guard to find his apartment building in the historic center of the city had collapsed.

“The entire front wall of the building fell,” José Ignacio Dimas said in a tight voice as he scanned the damage early Thursday. Like many buildings in the capital, it was aging and lacked maintenance.

More than 461 homes collapsed because of the hurricane, Cuban authorities said. More than 283,000 people from across the country had been evacuated from their homes, 98,300 of which were in Havana, according to authorities.

Streets across the western swath of the country were riddled with utility poles, wires and trees.

In Havana, residents picked up what debris they could, but huge trees and fallen telephone lines lined the ground, blocking traffic. Concerned about food going bad due to blackouts, a group of residents opened an informal soup kitchen.

"If we don’t work together as neighbors, nobody does it,” said Ariel Calvo, who was helping to shovel debris Thursday morning.

Lázaro Guerra, electricity director for the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said power had been partially restored in the island’s western region and that generation units were powering back up. But he warned that restoring power would be slow-going as crews took safety precautions.

On Thursday morning, the hurricane was located about 260 miles (420 kilometers) west-northwest of Havana. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph).

Earlier in the week, Rafael brushed past Jamaica and battered the Cayman Islands, downing trees and power lines and unleashing heavy flooding in some areas.

Authorities in Jamaica are searching for a couple last seen inside a car that was swept away by floodwaters, police told Radio Jamaica News.

Thousands of customers in Jamaica and Little Cayman remained without power as crews worked to restore electricity after the storm.

Rafael was expected to keep weakening as it spins over open waters and heads toward northern Mexico, although the hurricane center warned there was “above average uncertainty” in the storm's future track.

Meanwhile, many Cubans were left picking up the pieces from Wednesday night, after a rocky few weeks in the Caribbean nation. In October, the island was hit by a one-two punch. First, it was hit by island-wide blackouts stretching on for days, a product of the island’s energy crisis. Shortly after, it was slapped by powerful hurricane that struck the eastern part of the island and killed at least six people.

The disasters have stoked discontent already simmering in Cuba amid an ongoing economic crisis, which has pushed many to migrate from Cuba.

Classes and public transport were suspended on parts of the island and authorities canceled flights in and out of Havana and Varadero. Thousands of people in the west of the island had been evacuated as a preventative measure.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season was likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Children wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents cycle past homes damaged when Hurricane Rafael passed through Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Debris from a building damaged by the passage of Hurricane Rafael covers the street in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

Residents charge their devices after Hurricane Rafael caused partial outages throughout Havana, Cuba Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

A man pushes his pig back home after taking it to higher ground after Hurricane Rafael passed through Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A fallen palm tree is held by the power lines it brought down after Hurricane Rafael passed through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

Residents wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A youth plays in a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Madeleine Mur carries her dog through a flooded street after Hurricane Rafael passed through Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents ride through a flooded street on a horse-drawn cart after Hurricane Rafael passed through Batano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Children wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man makes his way through trees brought down by Hurricane Rafael along the road leading to San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People drive along a road littered with fallen power lines after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Waves break on the beach during the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks through the wind and rain brought by Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks through the wind and rain brought by Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People at a bus stop shield themselves with cardboard amid wind and rain during the passage of Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks through the wind and rain brought by Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A Cuban flag shredded by the winds of Hurricane Rafael flies above the statue of General Calixto Garcia in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday, a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and establish a new security corridor across the Palestinian territory.

Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel has imposed a month-long halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle.

Officials in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the strip, said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital – nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women. The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodies were taken to Ahli hospital, including those of seven children.

The Israeli military ordered the residents of several areas -- Shujaiya, Jadida, Turkomen and eastern Zeytoun -- to evacuate on Thursday, adding that the army “will work with extreme force in your area.” It said people should move to shelters west of Gaza City.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel was establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, suggesting it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu referred to the new axis as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities. He said it would be “a second Philadelphi corridor ” referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt further south, which has been under Israeli control since last May.

Israel has reasserted control over the Netzarim corridor, also named for a former settlement, that cuts off the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the narrow coastal strip. Both of the existing corridors run from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.

“We are cutting up the strip, and we are increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas, expressed its “complete rejection” of the planned corridor. Its statement also called for Hamas to give up power in Gaza, where the militant group has faced rare protests recently.

Netanyahu’s announcement came after the defense minister, Israel Katz, said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones, apparently referring to an existing buffer zone along Gaza’s entire perimeter. He called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all the hostages,” saying “this is the only way to end the war.”

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel plans to maintain overall security control of Gaza after the war and implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle much of its population elsewhere through what the Israeli leader referred to as “voluntary emigration.”

Palestinians have rejected the plan, viewing it as expulsion from their homeland after Israel’s offensive left much of it uninhabitable, and human rights experts say implementing the plan would likely violate international law.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israel rescued eight living hostages and has recovered dozens of bodies.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has left vast areas of Gaza in ruins and at its height displaced around 90% of the population.

Separately, Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in southwestern Syria, Syrian state media reported Thursday.

SANA said the nine were civilians, without giving details. Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were local gunmen from the Daraa province, frustrated with Israeli military encroachment and attacks in recent months.

Israel has seized parts of southwestern Syria and created a buffer-zone there, which it says is to secure Israel’s safety from armed groups. But critics say the military operation has created tensions in Syria and prevents any long-term stability and reconstruction for the war-torn country.

Israel also struck five cities in Syria late Wednesday, including over a dozen strikes near a strategic airbase in the city of Hama.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians inspect a UN building after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians inspect a UN building after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)