Tropical Storm Oscar swirls toward the Bahamas after hitting Cuba as a hurricane
CTV
Tropical Storm Oscar chugged toward the Bahamas on Tuesday after making landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane, killing at least six people as it unleashed heavy rains on an island also hit by an unrelated massive power outage.
Tropical Storm Oscar chugged toward the Bahamas on Tuesday after making landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane, killing at least six people as it unleashed heavy rains on an island also hit by an unrelated massive power outage.
Oscar was located 45 miles (75 kilometres) south-southeast of Long Island in the Bahamas on Tuesday morning. It had winds of 40 mph (65 km/h) and was moving north-northeast at 12 mph (19 km/h), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
"Oscar is at best barely a tropical storm at this time," the centre said.
It was expected to drop up to 5 inches (13 centimetres) of rain across the southeastern Bahamas, with up to 8 inches (20 centimetres) in isolated areas. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the central and southeastern Bahamas.
The storm made history as the smallest recorded hurricane, with a wind field of only about 6 miles (10 kilometres) across. It caught many by surprise as it made landfall in Grand Inagua Island in the Bahamas on Saturday and a second landfall in eastern Cuba late Sunday.
"It's not often we see a colossal failure in hurricane forecasting," Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist and storm surge expert, wrote in an analysis. He noted no models indicated Oscar would strengthen into a hurricane.
Oscar dropped at least 15 inches (38 centimetres) of rain in parts of eastern Cuba on Monday, with forecasters warning of heavy flooding and possible landslides. The six deaths were reported in Guantanamo.
