Hurricane Ian has made landfall over western Cuba and is headed for the west coast of Florida, the US National Hurricane Centre says
Floridians lined up for hours in Tampa to collect bags of sand and cleared store shelves of bottled water.
Earlier in the day, the storm made landfall in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, rushed in emergency personnel and took steps to protect crops in Cuba’s main tobacco-growing region. After passing over Cuba, Ian was forecast to strengthen further over warm Gulf of Mexico waters before reaching Florida as early as Wednesday as a Category 4 storm with top winds of 140 mph .
In Havana on Monday, fishermen were taking their boats out of the water along the famous Malecon seaside boulevard, and city workers were unclogging storm drains ahead of the expected rain.Satellite image released by NASA shows Hurricane Ian growing stronger as it barreled toward Cuba. The Hurricane Centre said in a 4:30am EDT update that Ian made landfall in Cuba as it continued to strengthen, with sustained winds of 125 mph .
Ian won't linger over Cuba but will slow down over the Gulf of Mexico, growing wider and stronger, "which will have the potential to produce significant wind and storm surge impacts along the west coast of Florida,” the hurricane centre said.
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