HAVANA — Cuba was left reeling after a fierce Category 3 hurricane ripped across the island and knocked out the country’s power grid.

The magnitude of the impact remained unclear through the early hours, but forecasters warned that Hurricane Rafael could bring storm surges, winds and flash floods to Cuba after ravaging parts of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.

Huge waves lashed at Havana’s shores as sharp winds and rain whipped at the historic cityscape, leaving trees littered on flooded roads. Much of the city was dark and deserted.

As it plowed across Cuba, the storm slowed to a Category 2 hurricane chugging into the Gulf of Mexico near northern Mexico and southern Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

This morning the hurricane was about 290 kilometers west-northwest of Havana. It had maximum sustained winds of 165 kph and was moving northwest at 15 kph.

Rafael is expected to keep weakening as it spins over open waters and heads toward northern Mexico, although the hurricane center warned there was “significant uncertainty” in the storm’s future track.

Meanwhile, many Cubans were left picking up the pieces from Wednesday night, with a strange sense of déjà vu after a rocky few weeks in the Caribbean nation.

In October, the island was hit by a one-two punch. First, Cuba was roiled by island-wide blackouts stretching on for days, a product of the island’s energy crisis. Shortly after, it was slapped by another powerful hurricane that killed at least six people in the eastern part of the island.

It stoked discontent already simmering in Cuba amid an ongoing economic crisis, which has pushed many to migrate from Cuba.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season. An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.