Hurricane Irma is lashing Cuba with strong winds and heavy rain after devastating several Caribbean islands.
The hurricane made landfall on the Camaguey Archipelago, in Cuba’s north-east, as a category five storm.
But the Bahamas have largely been spared after Irma changed track.
In Florida, 5.6 million people, or 25% of the US state’s population, have been told to leave as the storm approaches. At least 20 people are known to have died so far across the Caribbean.
Irma hit the Camaguey Archipelago late on Friday, threatening nearby coastal towns and villages.
It was the first category five hurricane to hit Cuba in decades, although it had weakened to category four by Saturday morning.
At 09:00 GMT, Irma had maximum sustained winds of 249km/h (155mph), the National Hurricane Center in the US said.
A hurricane warning is currently in effect in the provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara and Matanzas, while floods have been reported in the north-east.
Some communities have lost power, and communication is becoming increasingly difficult with towns in more remote areas, the BBC’s Will Grant in Havana reports.
Cuban officials reported “significant damage”, without giving further details, but said there were no confirmed casualties yet, AFP news agency reported.
Residents are hoping the storm will just glance the island before heading across the Florida Straits to Miami.
Earlier, people tried to secure their roofs and move belongings from low-lying coastal areas to higher ground.
“There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off and on, and the lights are out,” Anaida Gonzalez, a retired nurse in the Camaguey province, told Reuters.
About 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba, with resorts on the north coast now empty, the news agency reports.
