Hurricane Ian lashes Cuba as it heads for Florida coast

Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday and left 1 million people without electricity, then churned on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters amid expectations it would strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm.

Ian made landfall in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, and took steps to protect crops in the nation’s main tobacco-growing region. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Cuba suffered “significant wind and storm surge impacts” when the hurricane struck with top sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kmh).

As the storm’s center moved into the Gulf, scenes of destruction emerged in Cuba’s world-famous tobacco belt. The owner of the premier Finca Robaina cigar producer posted photos on social media of wood-and-thatch roofs smashed to the ground, greenhouses in rubble and wagons overturned.

“It was apocalyptic, a real disaster,” wrote Hirochi Robaina, grandson of the operation’s founder.

Local government station TelePinar reported heavy damage at the main hospital in Pinar del Rio city, tweeting photos of collapsed ceilings and toppled trees. No deaths were reported.

Hurricane Ian was forecasted to make landfall along the west coast of Florida’s peninsula Wednesday. As of Tuesday night, the storm was still churning in the Gulf of Mexico, where the warm waters allowed it to rapidly strengthen.

At 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Hurricane Ian was located about 180 miles south-southwest of Punta Gorda, Florida, and 20 miles south-southwest of the Dry Tortugas, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm was moving north-northeast at 10 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, making it a Category 3 storm.