Hurricane-force gusts have lashed Cuba's capital, Havana, as Hurricane Ike brought left four people dead.
The storm is currently a diminished Category 1 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.
However, it is expected to regain strength over western Cuba and turn even more powerful when it reaches the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday and moves toward Texas.
The Cuban government had put the entire population on maximum alert.
Tens of thousands of people were moved from vulnerable areas and unstable buildings in the capital.
Ike earlier caused 66 deaths in Haiti and reportedly damaged 80% of the homes in the Turks & Caicos Islands.
The hurricane first came ashore in Cuba yesterday near Punta Lucrecia in the state of Holguin, about 825km southeast of Havana.
State television broadcast pictures of the accompanying storm surge washing over coastal defences and sending waves crashing into buildings.
Sustained winds of about 160km/h tore the roofs off many buildings, knocked down trees and destroyed crops.
