Rafael strengthened to a major Category 3 hurricane as it made landfall on the Caribbean island of 10 million people.
It hit in western Artemisa province, east of Playa Majana beach, at about 2115 GMT, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The agency said Rafael swept across the island in two and a half hours before losing intensity as it entered the Gulf of Mexico.
US meteorologists had warned of "a life-threatening storm surge" and flash flooding.
The Union Electrica national power company blamed "strong winds" caused by Rafael for "the shutdown of the national electricity system," in a post on X.
Nine of Cuba's 15 provinces, including Havana, were placed on storm alert.
In Candalaria, a town hard hit in Artemisa province, gusting winds took down tree branches and debris littered the streets.
More than 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Artemisa and neighboring Pinar del Rio province on the island's westernmost tip.
In Havana, home to two million people, the streets were nearly empty: businesses were closed, several gas stations had their fuel pumps removed and transport services were halted.
"I am desperate, I am homeless, the roof is gone and I don't know what I'm going to do," Marta Leon Castro, 57, told AFP. At least five families in her neighborhood had lost all of part of their roofs.
The state newspaper Granma said airports in the western part of the country, including in Havana and the resort town of Varadero, had been temporarily shut as a result of the storm.
A tropical storm warning is in effect in the Florida Keys.
- More misery -
The storm piled fresh misery on Cuba just two weeks after the island was left without power for four days due to the failure of its biggest power plant and a shortage of fuel to produce electricity.
Cuba has for months been suffering hours-long power cuts -- a manifestation of the worst economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, a key ally and financial backer, in the early 1990s.
Last month's blackout, which took several days to fix, coincided with the passage of Hurricane Oscar, which killed eight people in the country.
The office of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Tuesday that it was mobilizing the military to help respond to the storm.
"We have activated the National Defense Council to provide the maximum attention to the passage of Hurricane Rafael," Diaz-Canel said in a post on X.
"Measures have been taken in each place to protect our people and material resources. As we have always done since the revolution, we will overcome this situation."
Ahead of the storm, state television showed workers clearing drains, collecting garbage and cutting back trees.
In the village of Alquizar, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Havana, Liset Herrera, 57, said Wednesday she had been unable to follow the news about Rafael "because there is no electricity."
Further south, in the coastal village of Ganimar, Marisol Valle, a 63-year-old farmer, came home briefly to collect some belongings before the water reached her home near the sea.
"There didn't appear to be a soul left" after the villagers had been evacuated, she said.
Philippines evacuates thousands ahead of Typhoon Yinxing
Manila (AFP) Nov 7, 2024 -
The Philippines has evacuated thousands of people from coastal communities ahead of a major typhoon, officials said Thursday, just weeks after a tropical cyclone left at least 150 people dead.
Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 175 kilometres (109 miles) per hour, Typhoon Yinxing could make landfall in the northern Philippines later in the day or early Friday, the state weather agency said.
Yinxing is the third storm in less than a month to threaten the Philippines after Severe Tropical Storm Trami and Super Typhoon Kong-rey together left 158 people dead, the national disaster agency said, with most of that tally attributed to Trami.
At least 17,000 people from coastal areas of Cagayan province, in the country's far north, moved into temporary shelters on Wednesday to avoid potential flooding from heavy rains now pounding the region, provincial rescue official Rueli Rapsing told AFP.
"I'm expecting more evacuees to arrive since there is an ongoing evacuation in the municipalities," Rapsing said.
The national weather agency said Cagayan, home to about 1.3 million people, might bear the brunt of Yinxing based on its current trajectory.
"We have already depleted the quick response fund of the province and we're actually asking the national disaster council for the replenishment of the quick response fund so we can provide assistance," Rapsing said.
In Ilocos Norte province near Cagayan, rescuers were on standby to help local police, fire officers and soldiers in emergency response, provincial rescue official Randy Nicolas told AFP.
Nicolas said they are closely monitoring possible landslides, floods and swelling of rivers in the province, with storm surges -- huge waves along the coast, also a concern in Ilocos Norte and Cagayan.
Disaster officials in the mountainous province of Apayao said almost 500 people have been evacuated.
"We really prioritised preemptive evacuations because we want to have zero deaths here in Apayao," provincial disaster official Aldrin Agmata told AFP.
School has been suspended in many areas of the north and President Ferdinand Marcos put all government agencies on high alert so they can swiftly respond.
"Remember, every life is important so we should always be prepared," Marcos said in a statement on Wednesday.
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