MIAMI — A large swath of Florida’s Gulf Coast is under hurricane and storm surge watches and warnings Monday from Category 2 Hurricane Ian, which whipped up overnight and is expected to turn into a major storm as it heads toward a potential first landfall in western Cuba.
The latest forecast at 5 p.m. Eastern time from the National Hurricane Center showed Hurricane Ian crossing north of Tampa Bay as a powerful Category 3 storm and making landfall in the Big Bend as a Category 1 or 2 storm — pushing storm surge that could reach as high as 10 feet in spots.
But regardless of any future small shifts in the track, which forecasters warned could continue for the next few days, much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, from Naples northward, faces a major risk of coastal flooding.
