Rafael was moving west across the Gulf of Mexico on Friday morning as the first major hurricane in the Gulf in November for almost 40 years, bringing the threat of life-threatening conditions to the southern United States coastline.
Forecasters said the storm could cause dangerous surf and riptides across the whole Gulf region in the coming days, after causing havoc in Cuba where millions are still without power.
As of 4 a.m. ET, Rafael was 585 miles east of the mouth of the Rio Grande with sustained wind speeds of 120 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane, moving west at a rate of 9 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
Rafael is now
tied with Hurricane Kate in 1985
as the strongest storms recorded in the Gulf.
The storm is expected to weaken throughout the weekend, but it could still produce tropical storm-force winds — which is between 39 and 73 mph — up to 115 miles from its center.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Thursday visited areas hit by the storm and spoke to a team working to fix six electricity towers that were knocked down by winds of 115 mph earlier this week.
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