Outer bands of Hurricane Ian begin to hit South Florida at 03:29
Ian intensified into a major hurricane packing sustained winds of about 125 mph early Tuesday morning just before hitting western Cuba. The powerful Category 3 storm was expected to continue strengthening as it passed over the island on a path to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with Florida’s west coast in its path later this week.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday for low-lying areas around Tampa Bay, and officials asked others in the area to evacuate voluntarily, knowing it could take some time for hundreds of thousands of people to move away from Ian’s path.
Cuba’s National Institute of Meteorology and then the US National Hurricane Center said the storm made landfall early Tuesday morning.
“Ian is already over Cuban territory,” a meteorologist from the institute told the nation in a special broadcast on Cuban state television. “The outer wall of the storm is located on the coast of the province of Pinar del Rio”.
NEXT Weather forecast for Monday 26/9/22 23:00 04:20
Ian was forecast to become an even stronger Category 4 storm, with winds of 140 mph, before hitting Florida as early as Wednesday. Tampa and St. Petersburg appeared to be among the most likely targets for their first direct hit by a major hurricane in a century. Even if Ian doesn’t hit the area directly, it could feel the effects of the storm, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned.
“You’re still looking at a lot of rain, you’re looking at a lot of wind, you’re looking at a lot of storms and so, yeah, follow that track, but don’t think about it because that eye may or may not be in your area that you’re not going to see impacts. DeSantis said during a press conference Monday afternoon. “You’re going to see significant impacts.”
The governor said the state has suspended tolls around the Tampa Bay area and mobilized 5,000 National Guard troops, with another 2,000 on standby in neighboring states. More than 27,000 power restoration personnel were put on standby to help after the storm, DeSantis said.
Men board windows as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Ian off the coast of India, 25 miles west of Tampa, Florida on September 26, 2022. RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty
“Please take this storm seriously. It’s the real deal. This is not a drill,” Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley said at a news conference Monday about storm preparations in Tampa, where some mandatory evacuations were ordered.
As many as 300,000 people could be evacuated from low-lying areas in Hillsborough County alone, Administrator Bonnie Wise said at a news conference. Schools and other locations were opened as shelters.
In Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, officials issued evacuation orders that go into effect Monday afternoon. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said no one will be forced to leave, but they will remain at risk.
“What that means is we’re not going to come help you. If you don’t, you’re on your own,” Gualtieri said. “For all practical purposes, get out. Right now. Everyone needs to go.”
The evacuation zone is located throughout Tampa Bay and the rivers that feed it, including MacDill Air Force Base and well-known neighborhoods such as parts of Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Ybor City.
The eye of Hurricane Ian can be seen blasting toward western Cuba in a satellite image provided by the National Hurricane Center taken at 2:26 a.m. Eastern, September 27, 2022. NOAA/National Weather Service
From 4:30 am east on Tuesday morning, Ian was moving north at 12 mph and was just about 15 miles south of the city of Pinar del Rio in western Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its maximum sustained winds had increased to 125 mph.
Authorities in Cuba had already evacuated about 50,000 people in Pinar del Rio province on Monday. They had dispatched medical and emergency personnel and taken measures to protect food and other crops in warehouses, according to state media.
“Cuba is expecting extreme hurricane-force winds, as well as life-threatening storm surges and heavy rainfall,” Daniel Brown, a senior specialist at the US National Hurricane Center, told The Associated Press.
The hurricane center predicted that areas of Cuba’s west coast could see up to 14 feet of storm surge Monday night or early Tuesday.
A mna helps remove small boats from Havana Bay in Havana, Cuba, on September 26, 2022, as western Cuba was expected to bear the brunt of Hurricane Ian. YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty
In Havana, fishermen pulled their boats out of the water along the famous Malecon, the waterfront promenade, and city workers blocked storm drains ahead of the expected rain.
In Havana’s El Fanguito, a poor neighborhood near the Almendares River, residents gathered what they could to evacuate their homes, many of which show damage from previous storms.
“I hope we get out of this because it would be the end of us. We already have so little,” said 54-year-old health worker Abel Rodriguez.
In the Tampa Bay area, a storm surge of up to 10 feet of ocean water and 10 inches of rain, with up to 15 inches in isolated areas. That’s enough water to flood low-lying coastal communities. Florida residents braced up, lining up for hours in Tampa to pick up sandbags and clear store shelves of bottled water.
This chart shows predicted storm surge flood values as of 11 p.m. Eastern, Sept. 26, 2022, representing the peak height that water could reach over normally dry land somewhere within the designated areas when Hurricane Ian hits Florida. NOAA/National Weather Service
The nervous anticipation has led to long lines for gas, full grocery stores and empty shelves, reports CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca in Clearwater, Florida.
“We’re going to bring these sandbags in front of the garage, the garage door, the front door … and we’re praying that we’re going to be OK,” Gabriel Alley, who moved to Clearwater from California, told CBS News.
Ian’s impending arrival also prompted NASA to pull the Artemis 1 rocket off the launch pad and return to the protection of the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building, likely ending any chance of an unmanned moon launch before November.
Hurricane Ian strengthens as Florida begins evacuations 03:16
“A lot of people in the Florida peninsula and Florida Panhandle are at risk and need to be ready to take action quickly,” said Rick Knabb, hurricane expert at The Weather Channel, “and the slow motion we expect from Ian means that we could to have wind, storm, and floods caused by rain.’
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all of Florida and urged residents to prepare for the storm, which will batter large areas of the state with heavy rainfall, strong winds and rising seas.
“We’re going to continue to monitor the path of this storm. But it’s really important to emphasize the degree of uncertainty that still exists,” DeSantis said at a news conference Sunday, warning that “even if you don’t necessarily have the eye of its path right storm, there will be fairly broad impacts across the state.”
Hurricane Ian is seen in a satellite image at 3 p.m. ET on September 26, 2022. NOAA
Flooding and urban flooding is possible in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula through midweek, and then heavy rainfall was possible in northern Florida, the Florida Panhandle and the southeastern United States later this week.
The hurricane center advised Florida residents to have hurricane plans in place and monitor the storm’s progress for updates.
President Biden also declared a state of emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance to protect lives and property. The president postponed a planned Tuesday trip to Florida because of the storm.