After turning to the northwest, Hurricane Flora maintained its peak strength, and made landfall in Sud, Haiti, late on October 3 as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with gusts from . The calm of the eye lasted for up to 70 minutes in one location. After quickly weakening to a hurricane, Flora turned more to the west in the Windward Passage, and restrengthened slightly to strike southeastern Cuba about east of Guantanamo Bay with winds of . A high pressure system to its north turned the motion of the hurricane to a westward drift, causing it to weaken quickly over land. Flora neared the north coast of Cuba on October 4 before turning to the south. It executed a cyclonic loop and entered the coastal waters off Granma Province. An anticyclone to the west of Flora turned the hurricane to the north, bringing it ashore near Santa Cruz del Sur on October 7 with winds of around . Flora initially turned southeastward over central Cuba, and late on October 8 a short-wave trough turned the hurricane northeastward, bringing it into the coastal waters of the Holguín Province. Flora remained a hurricane while drifting over land due to abundant moisture and a favorable upper level environment.