Hurricane Ian has torn into western Cuba as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a Category 4 storm before it hits Florida.
The hurricane is due to crash ashore in Florida tomorrow (Wednesday 28 September), and officials have ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate before then. Ian made landfall in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, rushed in emergency personnel and took steps to protect crops in Cuba’s main tobacco-growing region.
The US National Hurricane Centre said “significant wind and storm surge impacts” were occurring on Tuesday in western Cuba, with top winds of 125mph and as much as 14ft of storm surge predicted along the coast. Current forecasts suggest the hurricane will strengthen over the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
