400 to 500 mm of rain expected in 24 hours in Florida
Category 4 Hurricane Ian hits Florida with winds up to 250 km/h and continues to strengthen in its course.
The hurricane is fed by warm waters, and currently sea temperatures between Mexico and Florida are around 30°C which strongly fuels the hurricane. “It gives him a lot of energy,” explains Christophe Person, weather journalist at BFMTV.
Very heavy rain is expected in southern Florida. Between 400 to 500 mm of rain will fall, it is the equivalent of one year of precipitation in Paris.
Gradual return of power after Hurricane Ian hit Cuba
Electricity is gradually returning to Cuba on Wednesday, the day after the widespread blackout caused by the passage of powerful hurricane Ian, which killed two people and caused significant damage in the west of the island.
“She’s back!” Shouted residents of Old Havana, rushing to check the condition of food stored in their freezers as power gradually returns to the Cuban capital.
“Work is underway in all the affected municipalities in the western provinces, and an in-depth study of the lines is underway to determine and quantify the damage”, assures the public electricity company Union Electrica, the only operator in this country. of 11.2 million inhabitants.
“An electrical imbalance”
According to Union Electrica, Tuesday shortly after 5 p.m., two high-voltage lines of the electricity network came to a standstill due to cables broken by the winds.
“This situation caused an electrical imbalance due to an excess of production in the western zone and a deficit of production in the central-eastern zone, which caused a phenomenon of frequency instability in the two zones and, consequently , the total failure” of the network, explains the operator.
“The hurricane could stay 24 hours in Florida”, says the deputy director of the American hurricane center
“The hurricane could stay in Florida for 24 hours,” said Michael Brennan, deputy director of the American hurricane center on Wednesday evening. CNN.
“At this time, we expect it to eventually weaken below hurricane strength overnight tonight or early Thursday morning.”
The deputy director says hurricanes usually weaken 24 hours after making landfall, but calls on residents to stay alert.
668,000 people without electricity in Florida
More than 668,000 people are without electricity in Florida after the passage of Hurricane Ian according to our colleagues from CNN quoting the site PowerOutage.us.
The site says Lee County is hardest hit with more than 235,000 cuts to homes. Collier County has over 99,000 customers in the dark.
Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida
The US Hurricane Center (NHC) has just announced that Hurricane Ian is currently making landfall in Florida.
“Hurricane Ian made landfall as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane near Cayo Costa, Florida with maximum sustained winds of 250 mph,” the center wrote on Twitter.
“Evacuate when ordered and prepare for the storm”, says Joe Biden
“My administration is on alert and in action to help the people of Florida,” US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday as Hurricane Ian hits the state. “Citizens in the potential impact area should obey the instructions of local authorities. Evacuate when ordered and prepare for the storm. Evacuations have already been requested,” he said. “Your safety is more important than anything”.
What does it mean to have a category 4 hurricane?
The Saffir-Simpson scale was developed for hurricanes which are “classified into 5 categories, according to the strength of the maximum winds and the extent of potential damage”, explains Meteo France. Current Hurricane Ian is a Category 4.
These categories are calculated relative to the pressure at the center of the hurricane. We speak of category 4 when there are winds that are between 209 and 251 km/h.
“The trees are bending, starting to fall,” says a Florida resident
In Florida, “the trees are bending, starting to fall, the telegraph poles are starting to fall since this morning, some people in my family already have no more electricity”, says Alexandre Navarro, resident of Venice (Florida), on BFMTV , “little by little things are intensifying”.
He is in a house built to withstand hurricanes, but “we are worried, it makes a lot of noise, and it’s rather anxiety-provoking, we hope we won’t be too impacted.”
Images of waves and high winds in Florida
Before Hurricane Ian hit Florida, its effects are already being felt, with extremely high winds and high waves.
Power still out in parts of Cuba after Hurricane Ian
Cuba was plunged into darkness Tuesday evening due to a widespread power outage due to damage to its electricity network caused by Hurricane Ian, announced the state electricity company Union Eléctrica. On Wednesday, the company wrote that it was still trying to repair the damage.
23 migrants missing off Florida
The US Coast Guard began operations on Wednesday to find 23 missing migrants after their boat sank off the coast of Florida, where Hurricane Ian is about to make landfall, Border Patrol said.
“Four Cuban migrants swam to shore after their boat sank due to bad weather. The Southeastern Sector Coast Guard launched a search and rescue operation for 23 individuals,” a tweet read. Miami Sector Border Patrol Chief Walter Slosar.
“Catastrophic winds and floods” underway in Florida
Florida was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Category 4 Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, which is “rapidly intensifying” and could have “catastrophic” consequences, according to the US weather services, after devastating western Cuba. .
Around 2 p.m. (8 p.m. in France), the American National Hurricane Monitoring Center (NHC) warned of “catastrophic winds and floods” in progress in Florida.