Hurricane Ian Strikes Cuba, Florida Braces for Winds, Floods

(Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images)

HAVANA (AP) – Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday and left 1 million people without electricity. Now it’s on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters expected to strengthen it into a catastrophic Category 4 storm.

Ian made landfall early Tuesday in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, rushed in emergency personnel and took steps to protect crops in the nation’s main tobacco-growing region.

Ian was expected to get even stronger over the warm Gulf of Mexico.

In Florida, 2.5 million people were ordered to evacuate.

(Copyright 2022, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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