Hurricane Ian is rapidly strengthening in the Caribbean as it approaches northwest Cuba, and threats from the cyclone widened this Monday for the Cayos de la Floridaa chain of islets in the far southeastern United States.
The cyclone approaches Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles), according to the most recent bulletin from the National Hurricane Center (NHC, in English), quoted by Eph.
Here are the 11am EDT Monday 26 September Key Messages for Hurricane #Ian.
Latest Advisory: https://t.co/tnOTyfOjMY pic.twitter.com/3yeYqkQCxe
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 26, 2022
The bureau said Ian was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Grand Cayman and about 240 miles (385 kilometers) southeast of the far west of Cuba, which is braced for worsening conditions starting tonight.
Meteorologists from the agency, based in Miami, pointed out that the Island will face significant winds tonight, as well as the impacts of storm surges.
The NHC also expanded in its latest bulletin a tropical storm alert for various sectors of the Florida Keys and the west coast of this state in the next 48 hours.
Ian is currently a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, out of a total of 5, but it is expected to reach greater strength when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days. Its movement is toward the northwest at about 20 kilometers per hour (13 miles per hour).
According to the NHC, the hurricane is expected to cause “significant impacts of winds and storm surges” in western Cuba, where it is estimated to arrive shortly after midnight today.
The agency maintains hurricane alerts for the next 36 hours for Grand Cayman and the Cuban provinces of Isla de Juventud, Pinar del Río and Artemisa.
#HurricaneIan The National Civil Defense General Staff issues an Informative Note on the evolution of the event, passing the Alert Phase to the western provinces and the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality, including Matanzas and Cienfuegos. #CubaForLife pic.twitter.com/XZDrCD8FoQ
— Cuban Civil Defense (@CubaCivil) September 26, 2022
The Civil Defense of Cuba has already decreed the Hurricane Alert Phase for the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality.
Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila are in the Informative Phase.
Efe/OnCuba.
