With winds of up to 220 kilometers per hour, the storm in the Gulf of Mexico is now considered a second-highest category hurricane, the US Hurricane Center announced Wednesday morning (local time). The eye of the storm was therefore about 125 kilometers west of the Florida coast.
Authority warns Peninsula
The agency warned of “life-threatening storms, catastrophic winds and flooding on the peninsula”. “Ian” will arrive on the mainland south of the city of Tampa on Wednesday and could bring up to 30 centimeters of rain there, he said. Evacuation instructions were applied to 2.5 million people. The time window is closing, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urgently warned in a speech Tuesday night. “You have to stay safe now or you’ll start feeling the effects of the storm soon,” he said.
3,200 National Guard members activated
The region expected to be affected by the storm has not experienced such a hurricane in about 100 years, warned Deanne Criswell of the US disaster protection agency Fema. It’s important that people who haven’t lived in the southeastern state for a long time and have little experience with hurricanes take the matter seriously. Experts are also concerned that in recent decades construction has been taking place in the region closer and closer to water. Floods can damage or destroy many buildings.
The US Department of Defense said more than 3,200 members of the Florida National Guard have been activated, with another 1,800 on standby if needed. Florida has deployed troops and equipment at bases across the state to prepare them for deployment to storm-hit areas, a ministry spokesman in Washington said. For example, the National Guard can clear streets and assist with search and rescue operations.
The foothills of the hurricane had already hit the city of Key West, the southernmost point of Florida, on Wednesday night. Images of flooded streets and meter-high waves could be seen on social media. The hurricane center had warned of “life-threatening” storms over ten feet high on the peninsula.
“Ian” in Cuba: Two people died
“Ian” hit Cuba on Tuesday as a category three out of five hurricane. In the province of Pinar del Río, which has been particularly hard hit, two people have died after their houses collapsed, the Cuban government said on Tuesday. Power went out across the country. State-owned electricity supplier UNE announced that the supply would gradually be restored in the evening and in the morning.
Because of power outages and interruptions in Internet access and telephone connections, information from particularly affected areas in Cuba has only gradually reached the public. The photos painted a picture of great destruction – they showed rubble in the streets, houses submerged, trees uprooted, houses covered and streets flooded. “The damage is great, although it has not yet been recorded statistically,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on Twitter after a visit to the province of Pinar del Río.