Hurricane Rafael, a powerful category 2 storm verging on category 3, was bearing down on western Cuba Wednesday morning. As of the 10 a.m. update, the National Hurricane Center noted it was “very likely” that Rafael could be a major hurricane by the time it strikes the island nation, which has recently been struggling with prolonged power outages.

Rafael strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday night, and that strengthening is continuing. The storm could make landfall in western Cuba as a strong Category 2 storm later today. After that,

Hurricane Rafael has strengthened into a Category 2 storm just hours before it was forecast to make landfall on Wednesday in western Cuba