Rafael strengthens into Category 2 hurricane, headed for Cuba

Hurricane Rafael, now a Category 2 hurricane, is making its way toward Cuba after bypassing the Cayman Islands early Wednesday morning and Jamaica on Tuesday.
Rafael is expected to hit western Cuba after growing in intensity before making landfall. The island is still struggling under the effects of another storm two weeks ago on the opposite side of the island, CBS News reported.
The storm has maximum sustained winds near 100 mph and may is “expected to become a major hurricane before landfall” with a “life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane force winds and flash flooding,” per the National Hurricane Center. The storm will also bring heavy rainfall throughout the Caribbean, with 4 to 8 inches in Western Cuba, “isolated higher totals up to 12 inches anticipated across areas of higher terrain” and 2 to 4 inches in the Cayman Islands.
Storm surges may rise as high as 9 to 14 feet “above normal tide levels in areas of onshore winds along the southern coast of Cuba in the Hurricane Warning area, including the Isle of Youth.”
Rising waters may flood inland areas at heights of 1 to 2 feet in the Lower Florida Keys and 1 to 3 feet in the Dry Tortugas.
The storm’s path is expected to continue into the Gulf of Mexico after hitting Cuba, USA Today reported.
As of Wednesday morning, a hurricane warning is in effect for parts of western Cuba, including the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque and Matanzas, as well as the Isle of Youth, per the NHC.
The NHC has also declared tropical storm warnings for other areas likely to be affected by the storm, including the Cuban provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila, “the Lower and Middle Florida Keys from Key West to west of the Channel 5 Bridge,” and Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida.