Copa Airlines reported this Wednesday that it canceled flights to and from the cities of Orlando, Tampa and Miami, in the US, and to Havana, Cuba, between today and next Friday, due to the trajectory of the powerful Hurricane Ian, currently category 4.
Copa specified that the operations to and from Fort Lauderdale (United States), for the moment, remain according to the established itineraries.
Due to the latest reports on the path of Hurricane IAN, we have been forced to cancel flights to/from Orlando, Tampa, Miami (United States) and Havana (Cuba) between September 28 and 30. More information for passengers affected by this situation? pic.twitter.com/k9lj173y97
– Copa Airlines (@CopaAirlines) September 28, 2022
The airline indicated that passengers affected due to the “external climatic situation” to the company will be able to “make date changes without penalty” according to certain conditions.
Copa Airlines “will remain pending new information about this natural phenomenon, and will communicate additional effects on its itineraries in a timely manner,” the company added in an official statement.
Hurricane Ian, with winds of 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour), corresponding to category 4 (out of 5), is approaching the west coast of Florida at a speed of 9 miles (15 kilometers), which will reduce before hitting the ground.
According to a special bulletin issued at 07:00 local time (11:00 GMT), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States, the hurricane was about 100 kilometers from Punta Gorda, in southwestern Florida, and the impact zone is located further north, in Tampa Bay.
The dangerous storm surge that Ian will produce in its wake could raise sea levels by as much as 15 feet in some area of Florida’s west coast.
The special NHC bulletin includes a long list of hurricane, storm surge and tropical storm warnings and advisories covering much of Florida, including the east coast, and also parts of the Bahama Islands.
Tropical Depression #Eleven Advisory 1: New Tropical Depression Forms in the Central Tropical Atlantic. Expected to Be Short-Lived. https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 28, 2022
The fourth hurricane of 2022 in the Atlantic basin formed last weekend in the central Caribbean, passing through Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba before entering the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.
In western Cuba, it left considerable damage, but also a breakdown in the electrical system attributed by the authorities to the passage of Ian has left the island completely without electricity.
Efe/OnCuba.
