BAHAMAS, Nassau (AP):

Hurricane Sandy barrelled into The Bahamas yesterday after slashing across eastern Cuba, where it ripped off roofs and forced postponement of a hearing at the Guantanamo naval base but caused no reported deaths.

The Category 2 hurricane killed four people elsewhere in the Caribbean, and forecasters warned it will likely cause a super storm in the US next week, mixing with a winter storm whose effects will be felt along the entire East Coast from Florida to Maine and inland to Ohio.

The hurricane was located about 25 miles (40 kilometres) east of Great Exuma Island yesterday afternoon and it was moving north at 20 mph (32 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph).

Power was already out on Acklins Island and most roads there were flooded, said government administrator Berkeley Williams.

He said his biggest concern is that a boat filled with basic supplies for the island cancelled its trip until next week.

"Supplies were low before, so you can imagine what we are going through now," Williams said.

On Ragged Island in the southern Bahamas, the lone school was flooded. "We have holes in roofs, lost shingles and power lines are down," said Charlene Bain, local Red Cross president. "But nobody lost a life, that's the important thing."