Hurricane Rafael is quickly strengthening as it churns toward the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to bring damaging gusts and heavy rains to populated areas from the Cayman Islands to South Florida.
Winds reached 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour as the storm barrels toward Cuba, where it’s expected to make landfall later Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an update at 7 a.m. New York time. That makes it a Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
Rafael is “expected to be near major hurricane intensity” upon landfall, the agency said. Even