MIAMI, United States. – Destructive Hurricane Ian made landfall on the Florida panhandle at 4:35 p.m. on Wednesday, according to reported the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States.
The cyclonic organism made landfall just south of Punta Gorda, a few miles from the city of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of approximately 230 km/h and higher gusts, the NHC detailed.
“Ian hits the Florida peninsula with catastrophic storm surges, winds and floods,” said the scientific institution in another tweet.
According to the most recent NHC bulletin, at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, Ian’s eye was near 26.9 degrees North latitude and 82.0 degrees West longitude.
At that time Ian was moving north-northeast at a rate of 13 km/h.
“Ian’s center is expected to move over central Florida tonight and Thursday morning and emerge over the western Atlantic by Thursday afternoon. Ian is then forecast to turn north and approach the northeast coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina on Friday night.
Ian is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpsom scale. After making landfall, the powerful hurricane’s maximum sustained winds decreased to 220 km/h, although higher gusts can still occur.
The NHC also expects “further weakening” of the organism from its interaction with land. However, it could maintain hurricane strength as it approaches the northeast coast of Florida and the states of Georgia and South Carolina.
Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 85 km from the eye of the hurricane, while tropical storm force winds reach 280 km.
Faced with the imminence of the hurricane, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an emergency order for all counties in the state and urged residents to prepare.
Hurricane Ian left Cuba this Monday morning in the northern part of the province of Pinar del Río, the most affected province. In fact, one of the towns hardest hit by the cyclonic organism as it left the Island was the coastal town of Puerto Esperanza (Pinar del Río), completely devastated by the rain and strong winds.
During its passage through the island, the hurricane also severely affected the province of Artemisa and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
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