Tropical Storm Ian has been making its way through the Caribbean and has now strengthened into a hurricane. Forecasters are predicting the hurricane to track over Cuba and then make its way through Florida in the next few days. The hurricane is predicted to intensify rapidly becoming a major hurricane by late Monday.
In Cuba, authorities have canceled all classes in the Pinar del Rio province, and evacuations will begin Monday as necessary. The western part of the island is expected to see hurricane force winds before the storm tracks towards Florida.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center has stated that hurricane warnings are in effect for parts of Cuba, Grand Cayman and Florida. The projected model for Ian has the hurricane tracking towards Florida by the middle of the week, then possibly going towards western Florida and up towards the Panhandle.
The Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has declared a state of emergency telling residents to prepare for hurricane Ian.
At a recent press conference DeSantis said, “we’re going to keep monitoring the track of this storm. But it really is important to stress the degree of uncertainty that still exists, even if you’re not necessarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there’s going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state.”
Flash flooding is expected mid-week in Florida with heavy rainfall and high winds.
President Biden has also declared an emergency in Florida which authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to begin coordination and provide help and aid to residents.