Rafael made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday afternoon in western Cuba before weakening, the National Hurricane Center said.In a 10 p.m. update, the center said Rafael was moving away from western Cuba as it headed to the southeastern Gulf of Mexico,

Forecasters warned Rafael could bring “life-threatening” storm surges, winds, and flash floods to western swaths of the island after it knocked out power and dumped rain on the Cayman Islands and Jamaica the day before.

The hurricane center cautioned there is "larger-than-normal uncertainty regarding Rafael's intensity later in the forecast period."