Cuba was left devastated Thursday as Category 3 Hurricane Rafael slammed the island, destroying hundreds of homes, crippling the power grid, and damaging vital infrastructure.

No fatalities were reported, but Rafael weakened to a Category 2 storm as it moved across the Gulf toward Mexico, where heavy rains were expected in the coming days.

The hurricane struck Cuba’s western region Wednesday evening, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) west of Havana, leaving Jose Ignacio Dimas, returning home from his night shift as a security guard, to find his apartment building in the city’s historic center had collapsed.

"The entire front wall of the building fell," Dimas said in a tight voice as he surveyed the damage early Thursday. Like many buildings in the capital, it was aging and lacked maintenance.

Cuban authorities said more than 461 homes collapsed because of the hurricane. More than 283,000 people across the country had been evacuated, including 98,300 from Havana.

Streets across western Cuba were littered with utility poles, wires, and trees.

In Havana, residents gathered what debris they could, but fallen trees and telephone lines blocked traffic. Concerned about food spoiling due to power outages, a group of residents opened an informal soup kitchen.

"If we don't work together as neighbors, nobody does it," said Ariel Calvo, who was helping to shovel debris Thursday morning.

Lázaro Guerra, electricity director for the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said power had been partially restored in the island’s western region, and generation units were powering back up. But he warned that restoring power would be slow as crews took safety precautions.

On Thursday morning, the hurricane was located about 260 miles west-northwest of Havana. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 9 mph.

Earlier in the week, Rafael brushed past Jamaica and battered the Cayman Islands, downing trees and power lines and causing heavy flooding in some areas.

Authorities in Jamaica are searching for a couple last seen inside a car swept away by floodwaters, police told Radio Jamaica News.

Thousands of customers in Jamaica and Little Cayman remained without power as crews worked to restore electricity after the storm.

Rafael was expected to keep weakening as it moved over open waters toward northern Mexico, although the National Hurricane Center warned of "above-average uncertainty" in the storm’s future track.

Meanwhile, many Cubans were left picking up the pieces from Wednesday night’s devastation, after a rocky few weeks on the island. In October, the country was hit by island-wide blackouts, a result of the ongoing energy crisis. Soon after, a powerful hurricane struck the island’s eastern region, killing at least six people.

The disasters have stoked growing discontent in Cuba amid an ongoing economic crisis, which has led many to migrate.

Classes and public transport were suspended in parts of the island, and authorities canceled flights in and out of Havana and Varadero. Thousands of people in the west were evacuated as a precaution.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the 2024 hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that the 2024 hurricane season would likely be above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes, including four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.