Hurricane Rafael pulled away from Cuba Thursday morning after slamming into the island as a Category 3 hurricane and taking down its power grid. A significant shift in the storm’s forecast track means the threat to the US is dwindling,

Hurricane Rafael blew through western Cuba on Wednesday night, flooding streets, damaging buildings and plunging millions of people into darkness. The country’s national power company, Unión Eléctrica, said that strong winds had caused the blackout.

The hurricane center cautioned there is "larger-than-normal uncertainty regarding Rafael's intensity later in the forecast period."