Cuba plunges into darkness, Florida prepares

Sow destruction. Hurricane Ian swept through western Cuba on Tuesday without causing any casualties, but left the island behind in darkness and countless scenes of devastation, before heading to Florida, where residents and authorities were on alert in the face of an “extremely dangerous” phenomenon.

Cuba “without electric service,” the state electric company Union Eléctrica tweeted. “The hurricane is moving away from the national territory, but its devastating effects continue,” the Cuban Civil Defense wrote on Twitter.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned in its 5 p.m. bulletin that the Category 3 hurricane will approach the west coast of Florida as a “very severe hurricane.”

Ian, who made landfall in the early hours of the morning in Cuba’s western Pinar del Río province, was 375 kilometers from Sarasota, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon and is moving forward, with sustained winds of 195 km/h, speeds of up to 17 km / hour.

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A state of emergency has been declared across Florida and authorities have stepped up preparations. Some modeling now done predicts landfall south of Tampa Bay (…) in some areas there will be catastrophic flooding and deadly storm surge,” warned Governor Ron DeSantis. He called on residents to stock up and prepare for power outages, while mobilizing 7,000 National Guard personnel.

US President Joe Biden has approved federal emergency aid for 24 of Florida’s 67 counties. “My administration is on alert and working to help the people of Florida,” he said. Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said air assets such as helicopters were particularly prepared to intervene.

In Tampa, city employees filled sandbags on Tuesday and distributed them for free throughout the city. Authorities have ordered evacuations in the most vulnerable areas near the ocean.

The US space agency NASA has canceled Tuesday’s scheduled launch of its new massive rocket to the moon from the Kennedy Space Center in the southern US state. Ian is tracking Hurricane Fiona, which devastated the Atlantic coast of Canada on Saturday, killing three people, after the Caribbean last week where seven people were killed.