NEWS: Hurricane Ian forecast to hit Florida after making landfall in Cuba, forcing 50,000 people to be evacuated
by ABC News
Hurricane Ian is on track to hit the US state of Florida with winds gusts of up to 225 kilometres per hour, after lashing Cuba and forcing the evacuation of 50,000 people.
The storm made landfall early on Tuesday (local time) 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.
The US National Hurricane Center said the island’s west coast could see as much as 4.3 metres of storm surge.
“Cuba is expecting extreme hurricane-force winds, also life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall,” the center’s senior specialist Daniel Brown said.Â
After passing over Cuba, Ian is forecast to strengthen further over the Gulf of Mexico before reaching Florida as early as Wednesday as a Category 4 storm with top winds of 225kph.Â
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