Florida monitors a growing Tropical Storm Ian in Caribbean

Authorities and residents successful Florida were keeping a cautious oculus connected Tropical Storm Ian arsenic it rumbled done the Caribbean connected Sunday, expected to proceed gaining spot and go a large hurricane successful the coming days connected a forecast way toward the state.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a authorities of exigency for each of Florida the erstwhile day, expanding an archetypal bid that had covered 2 twelve counties. He urged residents to hole for a storm that could lash ample swaths of the authorities with dense rains, precocious winds and rising seas.

"We promote each Floridians to marque their preparations," DeSantis said successful a statement.

President Joe Biden also declared an emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, oregon FEMA, to coordinate catastrophe alleviation and supply assistance to support lives and property. The president postponed a scheduled Sept. 27 travel to Florida owed to the storm.

The National Hurricane Center said Ian was expected to fortify earlier moving implicit occidental Cuba and toward the westbound seashore of Florida and the Florida Panhandle by the mediate of the week. The bureau advised Floridians to person hurricane plans successful spot and monitor updates of the storm's evolving path.

The halfway issued an updated advisory astatine 5 a.m. Sunday, which noted the tropical tempest was forecast to statesman "rapidly strengthening aboriginal today" with the "risk of important upwind and tempest surge impacts expanding for occidental Cuba."

Ian was expected to go a hurricane Sunday and a large hurricane arsenic soon arsenic precocious Monday. The tempest had apical sustained winds of 50 mph connected Sunday greeting arsenic it swirled astir 345 miles southeast of Grand Cayman, successful the Cayman Islands.

A hurricane informing remained successful effect for the land and hurricane watches were issued for occidental Cuba.

John Cangialosi, a elder hurricane specializer astatine the Miami-based center, said it was not yet wide precisely wherever Ian volition deed hardest. He said Floridians should statesman preparations, including gathering supplies for imaginable powerfulness outages.

"At this constituent truly the close connection for those surviving successful Florida is that you person to ticker forecasts and get acceptable and hole yourself for imaginable interaction from this tropical system," helium said.

In Pinellas Park, adjacent Tampa, radical were waiting successful enactment astatine a Home Depot erstwhile it opened astatine 6 a.m. Saturday, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Manager Wendy Macrini said the store had sold 600 cases of h2o by aboriginal day and ran retired of generators.

People besides were buying up plywood to enactment up their windows: "Better to person it and not request it than to request it and not person it," Matt Beaver, of Pinellas Park, told the Times.

Elsewhere, powerful post-tropical cyclone Fiona crashed ashore Saturday successful Nova Scotia successful the Atlantic Canada region, washing houses into the sea, tearing disconnected rooftops and knocking retired powerfulness to much than 500,000 customers successful 2 provinces.