Pboilingos: Hurricane Rafael batters Cuba, plunging the island into a bconciseageout | Weather

Less than a month after Hurricane Milton churned over the island of Cuba, the country has been struck by yet another mighty storm: Hurricane Rafael.

Rafael made landdrop on Wednesday as a createidable Catebloody 3 storm, which qualifies it as a presentant hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

It lurched apass the westrict province of Artemisa, with triumphd speeds increateed to be 185 kilometres per hour (115 miles per hour).

But as Wednesday evening wore on, the hurricane had passed back into the Gulf of Mexico as a Catebloody 2 storm, with sustained triumphds of 168km/h (105mph).

From there, its destination was as yet unrecognizable: It is awaited to persist moving in a northwest straightforwardion, frailening as it potentipartner approaches either the United States or Mexico.

The Cuban handlement has already promised help to the impacted areas.

“Major harm in Artemisa, Mayabeque and Havana,” Plivent Miguel Diaz-Canel posted on social media on Wednesday night. “Every step from this moment on is oriented towards recovery. Together we will do it.”

He pledged to visit the provinces dehugeated by the storm “from the first hour” of Thursday, to originate “exact appraisements” for the recovery efforts.

Hurricane Rafael plunged Cuba into a bconciseageout, fair weeks after a power schedulet flunked on October 18, cutting power to the entire country.

Earlier that month, Cuba felt the wrath of Hurricane Milton, a storm that intensified to a Catebloody 5 at a enroll pace.

The Atlantic hurricane season stretches from June thraw the finish of November, and the past two months have seen enroll storm activity. Rafael is the fifth presentant hurricane in the Atlantic this year to achieve Catebloody 3 or higher.