Hurricane Ian strengthens to Category 3, Cuba and Florida on high alert

Published on: 09/27/2022 – 09:30 As it approaches western Cuba and Florida, hurricane Ian has strengthened to category 3 becoming a “major hurricane”. Winds reaching 185 km/h are expected. Ian comes on the heels of Hurricane Fiona which tore through the Caribbean and Canada’s Atlantic coast last week. Western Cuba is placed on “alert” awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Ian, which turned Tuesday, September 27 into a “major hurricane”, while in the United States, Florida is preparing to be affected in turn. “Ian becomes a major hurricane”, according to the NHC specifying that the speed of its winds now reaches 185 kilometers / hour and that it should soon make landfall in western Cuba. “Major” hurricanes are those whose winds reach at least 178 km/h, i.e. categories 3, 4 and 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Ian is now a Major Hurricane (Category 3)#Ian has cleared out a defined eye, and will be moving through western Cuba shortly. This rapid intensification was expected and well forecast. A new cone will be released at 5am. pic.twitter.com/iaxNzIjH1N— Nash Rhodes (@NashWX) September 27, 2022 It is then likely to inflict “devastating” damage, damaging houses, uprooting trees and disrupting water supply and Cuban Civil Defense issued Monday morning a “cyclone alert” for the six westernmost provinces of the island: Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque, Cienfuegos and Isla de la Juventud, an island located 344 km south of the capital. The waves were between five and seven meters high. Authorities evacuated some 50,000 people in Pinar del Rio. In the capital, where 2.1 million people live, long queues formed to gain access to certain foods. Fishermen in Havana sheltered their boats before taking refuge in their homes, and residents reinforced their wooden houses. The largest island in the British territory of the Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman, also issued a hurricane warning .Florida is preparing for the worst “Ian will then emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday (…) and approach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday and Thursday,” warned the NHC.L state of emergency has been declared across Florida and authorities are ramping up preparations. Ian “will bring heavy rain, high winds, flash flooding and storm surge, as well as isolated tornadoes along the coast Gulf of Florida,” Governor Ron DeSantis warned. He asked residents to stock up on food, water, medicine and fuel as well as prepare for power outages. Several municipalities in Florida, such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Tampa, have started distributing sandbags to residents to help them protect their homes from the risk of flooding. The counties of Hillsborough (west), where Tampa is located, and of Collier (southwest) have issued mandatory evacuation orders for the most vulnerable coastal areas. “We did not make this decision easily, but the storm poses a serious threat,” said Monday the administrator of the county, Bonnie Wise, at a press conference. US President Joe Biden has placed 24 of the 67 counties in a state of emergency, which allows federal aid to be released. NASA has given up on the take-off scheduled for Tuesday of its new mega-rocket for the Moon, from the Kennedy Space Center located in this southern United States state. A new hurricane after Fiona to passage of Ian, the civil protection services announced on Monday. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared for 90 days.Ian comes on the heels of Hurricane Fiona which tore through the Caribbean last week, killing at least seven people, and Canada’s Atlantic coast (two dead).The hurricane had already killed at least seven people last week, including four in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in Guadeloupe (France).With AFP