Hurricane Ian continues to gather strength as it makes its way toward Florida. With wind speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour, the storm in the Gulf of Mexico is now considered a hurricane in the second highest category, as the US hurricane center announced early Wednesday morning. The storm eye was therefore about 125 kilometers west of the Florida coast. The agency warned of “life-threatening storm surges, catastrophic winds and flooding on the peninsula.”
“Ian” will reach the mainland south of the city of Tampa during Wednesday and can bring up to 30 centimeters of rain there, it said. Evacuation instructions applied to 2.5 million people. The time window is closing, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned urgently in a speech late Tuesday evening. “You have to get to safety now or you’ll start feeling the effects of the storm fairly soon,” he said.
Ian arguably the strongest hurricane in 100 years
The region expected to be affected by the storm has not experienced such a hurricane for around 100 years, warned Deanne Criswell of the US disaster protection agency Fema. It is important that people who have not lived in the southeastern state for long and have little experience with hurricanes take the matter seriously. Experts are also worried that in the past few decades, construction in the region has been getting closer and closer to the water. Floods could damage or destroy many buildings.
The US Department of Defense said more than 3,200 members of the Florida National Guard have been activated, with another 1,800 standing by if needed. Florida has positioned soldiers and equipment at bases across the state to prepare them for deployment to storm-hit areas, a ministry spokesman said in Washington. For example, the National Guard can clear streets and help with search and rescue operations.
Storm tails reach Key West
Foothills of the hurricane had already reached the city of Key West, the southernmost point of Florida, on Wednesday night. Images of flooded streets and meter-high waves could be seen on social networks. The hurricane center had warned of more than three and a half meters high “life-threatening” storm surges on the peninsula.
“Ian” made landfall in Cuba on Tuesday as a category three of five hurricane. In the province of Pinar del Río, which was particularly hard hit, two people died after their houses collapsed, the Cuban government said on Tuesday. The power went out nationwide. The state electricity provider UNE announced that the supply would be gradually restored at night and in the morning.
Power outages in Cuba
Because of the power outages and disruptions in Internet access and telephone connections, information from the particularly affected areas in Cuba only gradually reached the public. Photographs painted a picture of great destruction – they showed debris in the streets, houses submerged, trees uprooted, houses covered and streets flooded. “The damage is great, although not yet statistically recorded,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on Twitter after a visit to Pinar del Río province.