Cuba prepares for Tropical Storm Rafael

HAVANA (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Tropical Storm Rafael was chugging past western Jamaica on Tuesday and was expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it headed toward Cuba.

The storm was located 70 miles southwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica Tuesday morning.

It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving northwest at 14 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

The center said it expected "steady to rapid intensification" over the next 24 to 36 hours.

It was expected to continue to pass by Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon, be near or over the Cayman Islands on Tuesday night and make landfall in western Cuba on Wednesday.

On Tuesday morning, Cuban Civil Defense called on Cubans, on social media, to prepare as soon as possible because when the storm makes landfall, "it's important to stay where you are."

The day before, authorities said they had issued an evacuation order for 37,000 people far eastern Cuba, in the province of Guantanamo, due to bad weather.

The storm is bad news for Cuba, which is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Oscar, which battered the island about two weeks ago after making landfall in the eastern part of Cuba, killing at least six people.

The storm also coincided with a large-scale blackout on the island.

Forecasters warned Rafael would unleash heavy rains across the western Caribbean that could lead to flooding and mudslides, with totals of three-to-six inches and up to 10 inches expected locally in Jamaica and parts of Cuba.

Heavy rainfall also was expected to spread north into Florida and nearby areas of the southeast U.S. during the middle to late part of the week.