Hurricane Oscar makes landfall in eastern Cuba

Hurricane Oscar has made landfall in eastern Cuba, an island beleaguered by a massive power outage, after striking the southeastern Bahamas earlier in the day Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center says.

The centre in Miami said the storm's centre arrived in the Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. Its maximum sustained winds were near 130km/h.

Forecasters said 12 50 25cm of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through Tuesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 40cm.

Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday. It is expected to produce a dangerous storm surge that could translate into significant coastal flooding there and in other areas of the southeastern Bahamas. Two to four inches of rainfall were expected, with isolated areas seeing up to six inches.

The storm's centre was located about 10km east-southeast of Baracoa, or about 80km east-northeast of Guantanamo. It was heading west-southwest at 11km/h.

The hurricane's arrival comes as Cuba recovers from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions of people without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.

Hours earlier Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico's southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.