Cuban authorities struggled to restore power to the island on Thursday morning after Hurricane Rafael crippled the country's power grid, leaving 10 million people in the dark.

The power grid collapsed Wednesday afternoon as Rafael swept across Cuba with peak winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km/h), damaging homes, uprooting trees and toppling telephone poles.

The hurricane moved 155 miles (250 km) north and west of Havana on Thursday morning and drifted into the Gulf of Mexico, where it no longer poses an immediate threat of landfall, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said. Rafael was the latest blow to the communist-ruled country's already precarious power grid, which collapsed multiple times just two weeks ago, leaving many people in the country without power for days.

The Energy and Mines Ministry said it had already started reconnecting the national power grid late on Wednesday, but warned that the process would be slower in the western parts of the island hardest hit by the storm.

State media said rescue workers had restored power to some circuits, although Havana remained largely without power as of dawn Thursday.

Rafael, the second hurricane to hit the island in less than a month after Oscar devastated eastern Cuba in October, exacerbated existing power problems.

The country's run-down oil power plants have struggled to stay operational for decades, but this year the system plunged into crisis as oil imports from allied countries – Venezuela, Russia and Mexico – fell. Hour-long power outages have become the norm in large parts of Cuba.

Rain was still falling heavily in the capital Havana early Thursday as surf hit the waterfront Malecon boulevard and many low-lying areas and streets remained flooded. Fallen tree branches, trash and debris blocked many roads, complicating travel and recovery efforts.

Havana airport was expected to remain closed until at least midday on Thursday, according to officials.

The storm devastated Artemisa province, a key agricultural region in a country already suffering from severe food shortages. Strong winds and rain prompted authorities to carefully harvest ripening fruits and vegetables rather than face a total loss.

State media showed images of downed power lines, metal roofs strewn across city streets and broken windows. Flooding was widespread.

Rafael struck the Cayman Islands as a Category 1 cyclone on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale before increasing in strength in less than 24 hours to reach the much stronger Category 3, making landfall on the southwestern coast of Cuba.