Hurricane Rafael swirls over the Gulf of Mexico after passing through Cuba

HAVANA (AP) – Hurricane Rafael swirled through the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, where it was expected to break apart after plowing through Cuba, knocking out the country’s power grid and collapsing hundreds of houses.

By Friday morning, the now Category 2 hurricane was located 230 miles north-northeast of Progreso, Mexico. It had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 km/h) and was moving northwest at 9 mph (15 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

It was forecast to move west toward Mexico in the coming days, and forecasters warned that swells from the hurricane were likely to cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”

However, no hurricane warnings were in place, and the storm was expected to weaken and “wind” across the central Gulf through early next week.

The hurricane tore through Jamaica and the Cayman Islands earlier this week, knocking out power and fueling mudslides. On Wednesday night, it slammed into Cuba, causing another headache for the island.

Rafael’s violent winds knocked out Cuba’s power grid, forced the evacuation of 283,000 people and collapsed 461 homes. It also left trees, power lines and rubble scattered across flooded streets.

On Friday, the Cuban government said it was able to restore power to approximately 143,000 homes in Havana, although many people were still without power.

Rafael followed a rocky few weeks in the Caribbean nation. At first it was affected by the whole island blackouts that stretch for daysa product of the island’s energy crisis. Soon after, it was hit by a powerful hurricane that hit the eastern part of the island, killing at least six people.