The National Hurricane Center said this morning that Hurricane Melissa made landfall on the southern coast of Cuba as an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 storm, with winds of 120 mph. The storm hit near the city of Chivirico in the Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba.

Hurricane Melissa is twisting across Cuba, its eye passing over the long, thin island’s eastern shores. Cubans are huddled in the dark, many far from home. The country evacuated about 750,000 people, who are now searching for safety as winds whip and land slides in the fierce rain. Cuba’s president said it would be a “very difficult night.”