Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Cuba en route to Florida

A strengthening Hurricane Ian's rainfall and winds lashed Cuba's occidental tip, wherever authorities person evacuated 50,000 people, arsenic it became a large Category 3 tempest aboriginal Tuesday and roared connected a way that could spot it deed Florida's westbound seashore arsenic a Category 4 hurricane.

The tempest made landfall aboriginal Tuesday successful Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, wherever officials acceptable up 55 shelters, rushed successful exigency unit and took steps to support crops successful Cuba's main tobacco-growing region. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the island's westbound seashore could spot arsenic overmuch arsenic 14 feet (4.3 meters) of tempest surge.

"Cuba is expecting utmost hurricane-force winds, besides life-threatening tempest surge and dense rainfall," hurricane halfway elder specializer Daniel Brown told The Associated Press.

After passing implicit Cuba, Ian was forecast to fortify further implicit lukewarm Gulf of Mexico waters earlier reaching Florida arsenic aboriginal arsenic Wednesday arsenic a Category 4 tempest with apical winds of 140 mph (225 km/h).

As of Monday, Tampa and St. Petersburg appeared to beryllium among the astir apt targets for their archetypal nonstop deed by a large hurricane since 1921.

"Please dainty this tempest seriously. It's the existent deal. This is not a drill," Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley said Monday astatine a quality league connected tempest preparations successful Tampa.

In Havana connected Monday, fishermen were taking their boats retired of the h2o on the celebrated Malecon seaside boulevard, and metropolis workers were unclogging tempest drains up of the expected rain.

Havana nonmigratory Adyz Ladron said the imaginable for rising h2o from the tempest worries him.

"I americium precise frightened due to the fact that my location gets wholly flooded, with h2o up to here," helium said, pointing to his chest.

In Havana's El Fanguito, a mediocre vicinity adjacent the Almendares River, residents were packing up what they could to permission their homes.

"I anticipation we flight this 1 due to the fact that it would beryllium the extremity of us. We already person truthful little," wellness idiosyncratic Abel Rodrigues said.

The Hurricane Center said successful a 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT) update that Ian made landfall successful Cuba arsenic it continued to strengthen, with sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). The halfway defines a large hurricane arsenic a Category 3 tempest oregon higher, meaning maximum sustained winds of astatine slightest 111 mph (178 km/h), and Ian became a Category 3 hurricane earlier Tuesday.

The halfway said "significant upwind and tempest surge impacts" were expected Tuesday greeting successful occidental Cuba.

Ian won't linger implicit Cuba but volition dilatory down implicit the Gulf of Mexico, increasing wider and stronger, "which volition person the imaginable to nutrient important upwind and tempest surge impacts on the westbound seashore of Florida," the hurricane halfway said.

A surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters) of water h2o and 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rainfall was predicted crossed the Tampa Bay area, with arsenic overmuch arsenic 15 inches (38 centimeters) inches successful isolated areas. That's capable h2o to inundate coastal communities.

As galore arsenic 300,000 radical whitethorn beryllium evacuated from low-lying areas successful Hillsborough County alone, region head Bonnie Wise said. Some of those evacuations were opening Monday day successful the astir susceptible areas, with schools and different locations opening arsenic shelters.

"We indispensable bash everything we tin to support our residents. Time is of the essence," Wise said.

Floridians lined up for hours successful Tampa to cod bags of soil and cleared store shelves of bottled water. Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a statewide exigency and warned that Ian could lash ample areas of the state, knocking retired powerfulness and interrupting substance supplies arsenic it swirls northward disconnected the state's Gulf Coast.

"You person a important tempest that whitethorn extremity up being a Category 4 hurricane," DeSantis said astatine a quality conference. "That's going to origin a immense magnitude of tempest surge. You're going to person flood events. You're going to person a batch of antithetic impacts."

DeSantis said the authorities has suspended tolls astir the Tampa Bay country and mobilized 5,000 Florida authorities nationalist defender troops, with different 2,000 connected standby successful neighboring states.

President Joe Biden besides declared an emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate catastrophe alleviation and supply assistance to support lives and property. The president postponed a scheduled Tuesday travel to Florida due to the fact that of the storm.

Playing it safe, NASA planned to dilatory rotation its satellite rocket from the motorboat pad to its Kennedy Space Center hangar, adding weeks of hold to the trial flight.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Monday nighttime that the shot squad was relocating shot operations to the Miami country successful mentation for adjacent weekend's crippled against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Buccaneers said the squad volition permission Tampa connected Tuesday.

Flash flooding was predicted for overmuch of the Florida peninsula, and dense rainfall was imaginable for the southeast United States aboriginal this week. With tropical tempest unit winds extending 115 miles (185 kilometers) from Ian's center, watches covered the Florida Keys to Lake Okeechobee.