Florida awaits Ian | The Press

West Florida held its breath as the hurricane approached Ian which is due to make landfall there on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of residents evacuated the area while a million Cubans were plunged into darkness due to storm damage.

Vincent Larin
The Press

“Life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding are expected across the Florida Peninsula,” the US National Hurricane Center warned around 8 p.m.

A state of emergency was declared throughout Florida where the authorities multiplied the preparations. Some of the modeling done now predicts landing south of Tampa Bay.

“In some areas there will be catastrophic flooding and deadly storm surges,” Governor Ron DeSantis warned. The latter asked residents to stock up and prepare for power cuts, while mobilizing 5,000 members of the National Guard.

Lines of vehicles could be seen on highways near Tampa, fleeing the worst. Tuesday evening, the outskirts of the hurricane Ian had begun to hit South Florida as the region braced for possible tornadoes.

Scenes of desolation

Meanwhile, in Cuba, residents were barely recovering from the strong winds. the hurricane Ian made landfall in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the western province of Pinar del Rio, and was 375 kilometers from Sarasota, Fla., Tuesday afternoon and advancing, with sustained winds of 195 km/h, at a speed of 17 km/h.

No casualties are currently to be deplored, according to the Cuban authorities, but the violent winds and the intense rains persisted in the west of the island where the hurricane sowed desolation in several localities, noted on the spot Agence France-Presse.

The country was also plunged into darkness on Tuesday evening due to a widespread power outage due to damage to its electricity network caused by the hurricane, according to what the state electricity company Union Eléctrica announced. The country is “without electrical service,” the company tweeted to explain the outage.

On the road to San Juan y Martinez, 190 km from the capital Havana, the province of Pinar del Rio, where most of the country’s tobacco plantations are located, was hard hit. Crops were flooded, trees uprooted and electric wires littered the ground.

Even stronger

It was expected that Ian becomes even stronger over the Gulf of Mexico, reaching winds of 209 km / h as it approaches the southwest coast of Florida, where 2.5 million people have been ordered to evacuate.

Tropical storm force winds were expected in the southern peninsula on Tuesday evening. They are then expected to reach hurricane strength on Wednesday when the heart of the storm makes landfall at 185 km/h. Damage was expected across a large area of ​​Florida.

The hurricane warning covers approximately 290 kilometers of Florida’s west coast. The National Hurricane Center has expanded its warning to encompass Bonita Beach, Tampa Bay and Anclote River. Fort Myers is also in the hurricane zone, as are Tampa and St Petersburg, which could be hit by a first major hurricane since 1921.

“Please treat this storm seriously. It’s real. This is not a drill,” Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley said Monday during a press conference about preparations for the storm in Tampa.

Preparations

US President Joe Biden has approved federal emergency aid for 24 of Florida’s 67 counties.

“My administration is on alert and in action to help the people of Florida,” he said. Air assets such as helicopters are particularly ready to intervene, said Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder.

In Tampa, city hall employees filled sandbags on Tuesday and distributed them for free across the city. The authorities have ordered evacuations in the most vulnerable areas, located near the ocean.

Ian comes after the hurricane Fionawhich ravaged the Atlantic coast of Canada on Saturday, killing three people, after the Caribbean last week where seven people died.

With Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and the New York Times