Cuban authorities said they had begun restoring power to the eastern half of the island on Thursday, a day after Hurricane Rafael knocked out the country's electrical grid, leaving 10 million people in the dark.

Hurricane Rafael moved away from Cuba on Thursday, after it struck the island and knocked out its vulnerable electrical grid.

Hurricane Rafael has pushed into the Gulf of Mexico after plowing across western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane with winds so powerful it knocked out the entire country’s power grid.