While near peak intensity, Inez was located about southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the eye was tracked by radar from the island. Its increasing outflow caused Tropical Storm Judith to the east over the central Atlantic to dissipate. On September 29, the small but powerful hurricane made landfall on the Barahona Peninsula, and quickly weakened over land. It briefly moved offshore and struck the southern peninsula of Haiti near Jacmel. The eye emerged into the Windward Passage near Léogâne, although severely weakened. The pressure rose to , and the winds decreased to 90 mph (150 km/h) over land. However, Inez quickly re-intensified over water, reaching winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on September 30 before striking southeastern Cuba near Guantánamo Bay. When Inez was over Cuba, forecasters had difficulty in predicting the storm's future; it was expected that the hurricane would move to the north off the east coast of the United States due to a weakness in the ridge to the north. The hurricane drifted west-northwestward within light steering currents, weakening over the high terrain but later moving offshore the southern coast of Cuba. While over water, the eye reorganized, and the cyclone maintained hurricane intensity. Inez eventually turned to a northward drift over central Cuba and emerged into the Atlantic Ocean on October 2.