Fox News projects former President Trump to win Michigan
The Fox News Decision Desk projects that former President Donald Trump has won the critical swing state of Michigan over Vice President Kamala Harris. These 15 electoral votes will add to Trump’s projected victory in the 2024 race. Michigan, part of the so-called “Blue Wall” states that includes Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, was one of the most valuable targets for both candidates in this year’s race. Trump is projected to win the presidential election, and adds the pickup in Michigan to his total. Long known as a Democratic stronghold, Michigan had not gone to a Republican candidate since the late former President George H.W. Bush won the state in 1988. Trump ended that streak in 2016, narrowly defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by less than one percentage point on his way to the White House. ‘UNTAPPED VOTERS’: EXPERTS EXPLAIN HOW CAMPAIGNS TURN OUT VOTE IN MICHIGAN, OTHER BATTLEGROUNDS IN FINAL DAYS President Biden took the state back for Democrats in 2020 in another tight battle, restoring the Blue Wall along the way by also capturing similarly tight victories in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. MICHIGAN CAMPAIGN STOPS FROM PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ALREADY DOUBLE THAT OF 2020, 2016 Both candidates realized the value to the state for their prospects of winning in 2024, with Michigan receiving over double the amount of campaign events from both campaigns than it saw in 2016 and 2020 before the calendar even flipped to November. Michigan was one of seven swing states that were viewed as the most vital to winning the election, with the others being Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Combined, the seven states award 93 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Mitch McConnell sings Trump campaign praises: ‘Sharper operation this time’
A smiling Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., congratulated both President-elect Trump for his projected win and his fellow Senate Republicans for being projected to retake the majority in the new Congress. He told reporters on Wednesday, it is “certainly a happy day for the GOP.” McConnell addressed the significance of the projected Trump win, remarking, “What he’s accomplished has not been done, as all of you know, since Grover Cleveland, which was a while back.” FOX NEWS DECISION DESK PROJECTS GOP TAKES BACK SENATE MAJORITY IN DEVASTATING BLOW TO DEMS Former President Grover Cleveland was notably the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. “I also want to commend the Trump campaign for running a sharper operation this time,” he added. The minority leader specifically touted the work of Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, saying they “deserve a lot of credit” and “ran a spectacular race.” The Fox News Decision Desk has projected that Republicans will re-take the Senate majority, flipping three blue seats. There are still several Senate races in battleground states that have yet to be called, meaning their majority could still grow. FOX NEWS PROJECTS TRUMP BEATS HARRIS IN WISCONSIN, FLIPPING ‘BLUE WALL’ STATE BACK TO RED McConnell, who announced in February that he would not seek the role of party leader in the new Congress, explained he “had really hoped I’d be able to hand over to my successor a majority.” “I’ve been the majority leader. I’ve been a minority leader. Majority is a lot better.” “Based on the fact that we haven’t got all the results, and we certainly already know we’re going to be in the majority, we’re hopeful that that might actually grow some,” he said. FOX NEWS DECISION DESK PROJECTS REPUBLICAN DEB FISCHER HOLDS SENATE SEAT DESPITE INDEPENDENT CHALLENGE He also credited National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., for his leadership during the cycle. McConnell’s praise for the Trump campaign came just days after Trump mocked him at a North Carolina rally. “Hopefully we get rid of Mitch McConnell pretty soon ‘cause he helped them, that guy,” the former president said, suggesting he aided the Biden-Harris administration. He also made fun of the fact that McConnell had endorsed him earlier in the year, despite their well-documented issues with one another. “Can you believe he endorsed me?” Trump asked the crowd on Sunday. “Boy, that must have been a painful day in his life.” At the time, McConnell had said it should not be surprising that he would get behind the Republican nominee. However, before the election, a new book reminded voters of his true feelings for Trump. In “The Price of Power,” by Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Associated Press, it was reported that McConnell referred to Trump at times as a “sleazeball,” “stupid,” “erratic,” a “despicable human being,” and a “narcissist.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Historian with streak of accurate election forecasts since 1984 falls short after 2024 Trump victory
Historian Allan Lichtman, who predicted nearly every election since 1984, was proved to have the wrong projection this cycle after President-elect Trump sailed to victory on Election Day. The Fox News Decision Desk projected Trump would win the presidency in the early hours of Wednesday, after Wisconsin’s call for the former president officially brought him above the magic number of 270 electoral votes needed to secure a win. Lichtman, an election forecaster who had previously correctly predicted nearly every presidential race since 1984, developed a formula that is used to make predictions about presidential elections. He predicted, after the Democratic National Convention, that Vice President Kamala Harris would win the White House this cycle – but election night results show his prediction was wrong. Lichtman’s “Keys to the White House” consists of 13 true or false questions that he believes establish a strong indication of who will be named the victor on election night. Each question is asked about the two dueling nominees; if “true” they are given a “key,” and if “false,” their competitor receives the point. TRUMP CLAIMS VICTORY, HARRIS SKIPS PARTY: THE BIGGEST SURPRISES OF ELECTION NIGHT The “keys” are as follows: party mandate, contest, incumbency, third party, short-term economy, long-term economy, policy change, social unrest, scandal, foreign/military failure, foreign/military success, incumbent charisma and challenger charisma. FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS: HOW TRUMP REGAINED THE WHITE HOUSE According to Lichtman’s prediction, Harris held nine of the 13 keys before Election Day. These included no primary contest, no third party, short-term economy, long-term economy, policy change, no social unrest, no scandal, foreign/military success, and no challenger charisma. Trump, however, defeated Harris when he secured 277 electoral votes – and counting. “The keys show that Kamala Harris is a predicted winner,” Lichtman told Fox News Digital ahead of the election. After Trump was projected to be the 47th president, Lichtman said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “assessing last night’s results.” In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Lichtman said he will soon be addressing the results.
Liz Cheney acknowledges Trump’s victory: ‘We have a new President-elect’
Former Rep. Liz Cheney acknowledged former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory on Wednesday, noting in a post on X that the nation has “a new President-elect.” Cheney, a vociferous Trump critic who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the election, asserted that Americans must accept the result. “Our nation’s democratic system functioned last night and we have a new President-elect. All Americans are bound, whether we like the outcome or not, to accept the results of our elections,” Cheney declared in her post. LIZ CHENEY BLASTS TRUMP AS ‘DEPRAVED,’ ‘UNSTABLE,’ CLAIMS PRO-LIFE AND PRO-CHOICE WOMEN RALLYING BEHIND HARRIS “We now have a special responsibility, as citizens of the greatest nation on earth, to do everything we can to support and defend our Constitution, preserve the rule of law, and ensure that our institutions hold over these coming four years. Citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press and those serving in our federal, state and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy,” she added. Cheney was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Later, she served on the House Select Committee that investigated the episode. Trump and Cheney had both been excoriating each other. TRUMP CRITICISM OF LIZ CHENEY AS ‘RADICAL WAR HAWK’ FRAMED AS CALL FOR VIOLENCE BY ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ MEDIA Trump called her “a very dumb individual” and “a radical war hawk.” Cheney blasted Trump, declaring in a post on X, “We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.” Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger also acknowledged the election outcome. TRUMP LAMBASTES LIZ CHENEY AS ‘CRAZED WARHAWK’ AS SHE CAMPAIGNS FOR KAMALA HARRIS “Last night the battle was lost, but the mission continues. We move on, regroup, and prepare for the next one,” Kinzinger tweeted. Like Cheney, Kinzinger was also one of the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot. He also served on the House Select Committee formed to probe the episode and he backed Harris during the 2024 White House contest.
Harris world blame game begins after crushing loss to Trump
President-elect Trump’s historic victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday has surrogates of the Democratic candidate pointing fingers and laying blame for the defeat – even before Harris officially concedes. Harris-Walz surrogate Lyndi Li spoke to Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich at Howard University, Harris’ alma mater, in Washington, D.C., saying that the Harris team wasn’t “expecting a blowout at all.” “The blame game has started,” said Li, a member of the DNC National Finance Committee and Pennsylvania commissioner. Li said that Harris’ pick for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, may not have been the right choice to carry the “blue wall” states against the Trump-Vance ticket. TRUMP CLAIMS VICTORY, HARRIS SKIPS PARTY: THE BIGGEST SURPRISES OF ELECTION NIGHT “One of the things that are top of mind is the choice of Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate,” Li said. “A lot of people are saying tonight that it should have been Josh Shapiro. Frankly, people have been saying that for months.” “I know a lot of people are probably wondering tonight what would have happened had Shapiro been on the ticket,” Li continued. “And not only in terms of Pennsylvania. He’s famously a moderate. So that would have signaled to the American people that she is not the San Francisco liberal that Trump said she was.” Li added that she was “not sure how much Tim Walz contributed to the ticket” as the campaign was forced into “cleaning up” the governor’s “laundry list” of gaffes. “In the eyes of the American people, he was the governor who oversaw the protests in Minnesota and probably let it go on longer than he should have. So that has been seared in the minds of American people,” she said. “And also, ideally, you don’t say on national TV that you’re a knucklehead,” Li said, referring to a moment during the Vice Presidential Debate in which Walz was forced to correct a misstatement that he had been in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in the spring of 1989. “I just think that’s his very baseline stuff, like politics 101.” Li noted that Harris’ attempt to present herself as “a unifier” may have “undermined her goal” of getting Biden supporters “who were maybe still understandably upset that their leader was unceremoniously, basically pushed aside.” LIBERALS FUME ON SOCIAL MEDIA AS FOX NEWS PROJECTS TRUMP WINNING PRESIDENCY: ‘WHAT IS F—ING HAPPENING’ Harris appearance on ABC’s “The View” may also have been a missed opportunity to show how a Harris administration would not have just been a repeat of Biden’s four years, according to Li. “She knows a mistake was to say on ‘The View’ that she couldn’t think of a single thing that she would do differently from the Biden administration,” Li said. “That was the opener for her to show Americans that she’s going to get tough on the border, that she’s going to take drastic measures to bring down inflation. That was her chance.” Li also pointed to concerns about the leadership of Harris’ Pennsylvania team making poor staffing decisions that ultimately led to muddled campaign messaging. “[Harris] heard us. We raised serious concerns about the Pennsylvania campaign’s leadership,” Li said. “She actually installed someone on her own people in the final weeks of the campaign, but I fear it was too late. …We should have people who deeply understand, intimately understand the contours of the state rather than out-of-state operatives who move from campaign to campaign.” Harris did not speak to supporters who gathered at her alma mater overnight. She is expected to speak later Wednesday.
Trump-backed Van Orden projected to defeat Dem challenger in competitive Wisconsin district
Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden is projected to fend off a competitive challenge from Democrat Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District election on Tuesday, avoiding an upset. Van Orden was first elected in 2022, and the 2024 election was his first as an incumbent. CHECK OUT OUR FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB HERE He is a retired Navy SEAL and a vocal supporter of former President Trump, who endorsed him in the race. Van Orden is also an ally of Republican House leadership. TOP REPUBLICANS PROBE BIDEN ADMIN ON AFGHAN NATIONALS’ ALLEGED ELECTION DAY TERRORIST PLOT Cooke is a local business owner and was appointed by Wisconsin’s Democrat Gov. Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. The Democrat won a heated primary in the district in order to take on Van Orden. HARRIS BREAKS SILENCE AFTER GOP LEADERS SAY ANTI-TRUMP RHETORIC ‘RISKS INVITING’ ANOTHER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT The 3rd Congressional District of Wisconsin includes parts of Dunn, Pierce, Pepin, Eau Claire, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, Monroe, La Crosse, Vernon, Richland, Crawford, Grant, Adams and Portage counties. SEN TAMMY BALDWIN HITS BACK AT GOP OPPONENT’S CLINTON COMPARISON: ‘ACTUALLY CALLED YOU DEPLORABLE’ In 2022, Van Orden defeated Democrat candidate Brad Pfaff, flipping the congressional district for Republicans. Top political handicapper, the Cook Political Report, rated the race as “Lean Republican.” The fairly competitive Wisconsin race was expected to help determine which party would have the majority in the next Congress. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Melania Trump posts photo of son Barron, 18, voting for the 1st time in election with father at top of ticket
Melania Trump celebrated that her 18-year-old son, Barron, voted for the first time on Tuesday, saying he cast his ballot for his father, former President and now President-elect Trump. “Voted for the first time – for his dad!” the former first lady wrote on X, sharing a photo of Barron from behind at the voting booth. The post on her official account added the hashtags: #18yearsold #presidentialelection #proud.” Donald and Melania Trump voted in-person on Tuesday at the Mandel Recreation Center near Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. MELANIA TRUMP REVEALS HOW SHE STAYS CALM, COOL, FOCUSED AND HEALTHY: ‘GUIDING PRINCIPLE’ By contrast, Vice President Harris told reporters in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday that she had voted via a mail-in ballot that was “on its way” to California. Barron Trump, who turned 18 in March, is Melania’s only child with the president-elect. He is a college freshman attending the Stern School of Business at New York University in Manhattan. TRUMP TAPS INTO GEN Z’S PULSE WITH HELP FROM SON BARRON, WHO TELLS HIM ABOUT HOTTEST TRENDS Barron, whose childhood included time at the White House during Trump’s first term, had been helping his father’s campaign with their podcast strategy. Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, told Politico’s Playbook Deep Dive podcast that Barron “has been very involved in selecting or recommending, I should say, a number of the podcasts that we should do.” Miller added, “I got to tell you, hats off to the young man. Every single recommendation he’s had has turned out to be absolute ratings gold that’s broken the internet. He’s done a great job.”
Election results in 7 key swing counties show how Trump swept to victory
Seven key swing counties, known as “bellwether counties,” with some exceptions, have consistently sided with the winning presidential candidate for decades. They are Door County, Wisconsin; Kent County, Michigan; Vigo County, Indiana; Clallam County in Washington; and Bucks, Erie and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania. In some, Trump won or improved his performance from 2020. Other counties went for Harris, who is projected to lose the 2024 race. Here’s how these battleground counties voted in Tuesday’s election. With 98% reporting as of Wednesday morning, Trump led in Bucks County, a primarily suburban county just north of Philadelphia, by a mere 512 votes. If Trump’s lead of 49.58% to Harris’ 49.45% holds, it would be the first time a Republican won the county since 1988. Biden beat Trump by four points in 2020. Trump is projected to win Pennsylvania, according to the Fox News Decision Desk. In Erie County, Trump is leading with 50.26% of the vote, compared to the 48.82% for Harris. Erie is situated in far northwestern Pennsylvania on Lake Erie, is primarily rural and significantly smaller in terms of population. That is a flip from 2020, when Biden won the county by 1 percentage point. Trump is also leading with 50.63% of the vote in Northampton County, where Harris received 48.40%. Northampton in eastern Pennsylvania is suburban and home to Lehigh University, a private research college. Biden won Northampton by less than a point in 2020. Berwood Yost, the director of the national survey group the Center for Opinion Research, said all three Pennsylvania counties mirror many of the key demographics, such as racial composition, educational attainment and population density, that make Pennsylvania so competitive. “Both campaigns see the path to the White House running through Pennsylvania,” Yost said, adding the path to victory in Pennsylvania runs through Bucks, Erie and Northampton counties. Biden won Pennsylvania overall by a narrow 1.17 percent margin in 2020. Door County, Wisconsin, broke with its usual bellwether status on Tuesday night, as 50.56% of voters chose Harris, while 48.33% chose Trump, according to unofficial results Wednesday morning. That contrasted with the state as a whole. Trump carried battleground Wisconsin, Fox News projects, with 49.75% of the vote, compared to 48.8% who selected Harris. In 2020, Biden received 50% of the vote in Door County, while Trump received 48.6% there. Biden carried Wisconsin as a whole 49.6% to Trump’s 48.9%, and the Democrat won the 2020 general election. In Kent County, Michigan, 51.53% of voters chose Harris, while 46.69% chose Trump. As of Wednesday morning, Trump is leading in Michigan with 50.09% of the vote to Harris’ 48.09%, but the Fox News Decision Desk has not yet called the race. VOTERS IN SEVERAL STATES PROJECTED TO APPROVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS FORBIDDING NONCITIZEN VOTING A traditionally conservative county that has moved into toss-up territory in recent years, Kent’s chosen candidate has also won Michigan and the general election in the last three presidential contests. In the 2020 election, Biden won 52.1% of the vote in Kenty County, while Trump won 45.9%. That year, Biden carried Michigan with 50.6% of the vote, while Trump received 47.9%. According to WOOD-TV, that represented the first time more than half of the vote in Kenty County went to the Democratic candidate since Lyndon Johnson’s re-election victory in 1964. “Traditionally, Kent County has been a Republican-leaning county, and its sort of dominant political culture has been in the spirit of Gerald Ford through Reagan-Bush conservatism, but that started to change right around the [Barack] Obama years,” Whitt Kilburn, a political science professor at Grand Valley State University, told WOOD-TV, crediting a population boom and suburban development outside Grand Rapids for the change. A Democratic presidential candidate carried Kent County for the first time in more than 40 years in 2008 when the majority of voters chose Barack Obama. Despite his victory in the general election and winning Michigan’s electoral votes, Obama lost Kent County by 8 percentage points to Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, according to WOOD-TV. Kilburn credited Trump for Kent County remaining purple territory. “Trump, for the most part, has been pretty clear. He rejects Reagan-Bush conservatism, and you can extend that back to Ford as well… pillars of moral traditionalism, commitment to free trade, commitment to strong military alliances,” Kilburn told WOOD-TV. “MAGA conservatism is presented to voters as an alternative and an alternative that is radically different from those ideas of conservatism.” Trump won Vigo County, Indiana, with 58.08% of the vote, while Harris received 39.96%. The Republican presidential nominee also won statewide, receiving 59.08% of the vote, compared to 39.20% for Harris. FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS: HOW TRUMP REGAINED THE WHITE HOUSE Matthew Bergbower, a political science professor at Indiana State University, described a bellwether county as a “microcosm of the nation” in terms of political preferences. Though his county, Vigo County in Indiana, deviated by voting for Donald Trump in 2020, it has chosen the winning candidate in every election since 1952. In Clallam County, Washington, Harris received 54.29% of the vote, while Trump received 43.90%. The state of Washington also handed the Democratic presidential nominee 58.62% of the vote, while Trump received 39.10%. Before the 2024 contest, Clallam County stood out as the only county to have voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1980. In 2020, Biden carried Clallam County with 50.4% of the vote, while Trump received 47.0%. Biden carried Washington state in 2020 with 58.4% of the vote, while Trump received 39.0%. Before Tuesday, the people of Clallam County considered themselves proud of their history as the “last bellwether county” in America. Pam Blakeman, chair of the Clallam County Republicans, previously told Fox News Digital that she thought the election “will be close in our County, but I see it swinging towards Trump,” pointing to good Republican turnout and a ground game that she said “is the most active I have ever seen.” Yet, Ben Anderstone, a progressive Washington-based political consultant, had told Fox News Digital that “a Trump win in Clallam
Bill Barr: Prosecutors should ‘do the right thing’ and dismiss Trump cases: ‘Respect the people’s decision’
Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who served in President-elect Trump’s first administration, is calling on prosecutors at the state and federal levels to dismiss the pending legal cases against Trump before he takes office once again. Barr told Fox News Digital that voters were well aware of all the allegations against Trump when electing him to a second term in office on Tuesday, and that it is in the country’s best interest for prosecutors to listen to them. “The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years,” Barr said. “They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now.” Barr asserted that the legal theories in some of the cases already had been “greatly weakened by a series of court decisions,” and that the matters “have now been extensively aired and rejected by the American people.” TRUMP VOWS TO LEAD ‘GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA’ IN VICTORY SPEECH: ’FIX EVERYTHING’ Once Trump takes office in January, Barr pointed out, prosecutors will be unable to continue the cases during his term. A Trump-appointed attorney general could end the federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith; one in Washington, D.C., for alleged efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, and another in Florida based on allegations dealing with retaining classified documents after his first term. The Florida case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on technical grounds involving Smith’s appointment, and the Washington case was undermined by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that presidents have immunity from prosecution for certain official actions. “We got immunity at the Supreme Court,” Trump told Hugh Hewitt last month. “It’s so easy. I would fire [Smith] within two seconds. He’ll be one of the first things addressed.” TRUMP CLAIMS VICTORY, HARRIS SKIPS PARTY: THE BIGGEST SURPRISES OF ELECTION NIGHT However, Trump would be powerless to stop state cases brought against him in New York and Georgia. One is a pending state criminal case in Georgia based on alleged efforts to overturn that state’s results in the 2020 election. He has also been convicted in a New York criminal case for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election and has a sentencing hearing set for later this month. Barr said the local prosecutors and judges need to move on from the spectacle of prosecuting a soon-to-be sitting president. “Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand,” he said. “The public interest now demands that the country unite and focus on the challenges we face at home and abroad. Attorney General Garland and all the state prosecutors should do the right thing and help the country move forward by dismissing the cases,” he added. This includes the New York criminal case in which Trump was already found guilty but has yet to receive a sentence. Barr called on state prosecutors to dismiss the case, despite already securing a conviction. “That case is rife with legal abuse and error,” Barr said. “If it were continued to be litigated it would ultimately be overturned, but we shouldn’t put up with that kind of distraction. And I think the right thing to do would be for the prosecutors to dismiss the case.” When asked if this is likely to happen, Barr’s response was blunt: “We’ll see what they think of democracy.”
Hurricane Rafael becomes a Category 2 storm as it nears Cuba
Rafael continues to strengthen and forecast to be near major Category 3 hurricane status at landfall in western Cuba. Hurricane Rafael has intensified into a Category 2 hurricane just hours before it is forecast to make landfall in Cuba, according to the United States National Weather Service. Hurricane Rafael is located about 260km (160 miles) south-southeast of Havana, Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 160km/h (100mph), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported on Wednesday. Rafael continues to strengthen and is now expected to reach “major hurricane” intensity – classified as Category 3 or above – at landfall in western Cuba, the NHC added. It was another stroke of bad news for Cuba, which has been struggling with blackouts while recovering from Hurricane Oscar, which killed at least six people two weeks ago in the eastern part of the island. Rafael is likely to exacerbate the island’s acute energy crisis, which has led to work stoppages and prolonged power outages in recent weeks due to decrepit infrastructure and a lack of fuel for Cuba’s oil-fired power stations. Hurricane #Rafael Advisory 12: Rafael Expected to Become a Major Hurricane Before Landfall In Western Cuba. Life-Threatening Storm Surge, Damaging Hurricane-Force Winds, And Flash Flooding Expected in Portions of Western Cuba. https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ — National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 6, 2024 Forecasters warned that Rafael was expected to slam into Cuba on Wednesday evening after dumping rain on Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on Tuesday. The NHC warned of floods, storm surges and mudslides. The US Department of State issued an advisory for Cuba on Tuesday afternoon, offering departure flights to nonessential staff and American citizens and advising others to “reconsider travel to Cuba due to the potential impact” of Rafael. Also on Tuesday, the Cuban Civil Defence called on citizens to prepare as soon as possible because when the storm makes landfall, “it’s important to stay where you are.” Authorities said they had issued an evacuation order for 37,000 people in far eastern Cuba in the province of Guantanamo due to bad weather. A hurricane warning was in effect on Tuesday for a portion of the Cayman Islands and the Cuban provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila as well as the lower and middle Florida Keys. Warnings were lifted in Jamaica after the storm passed by the western coast. Rafael on Tuesday knocked out power in Jamaica and unleashed flooding and landslides. The Jamaica Public Service, the island’s electricity provider, said in a statement late on Tuesday that impassable roads were preventing crews from restoring power in some areas. Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season was likely to be well above average with 17 to 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes. An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Rafael is the 11th hurricane to form this year with four becoming major Category 3 storms with maximum sustained winds of 178km/h (111mph) or more. Adblock test (Why?)