Residents in Florida were bracing on Wednesday morning for the landfall of a storm that had strengthened overnight into a category 4 hurricane and left Cuba without power after the entire country’s electricity grid collapsed in its wake.
Many businesses in Florida have shuttered and officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate. The National Weather Service forecasts the center of Hurricane Ian to move over central Florida by Wednesday evening. It has already picked up wind strength close to 155mph (250km/h), though it is expected to slowly weaken as it makes landfall.
On Tuesday the hurricane had smashed through western Cuba, bringing violent winds and flooding that affected infrastructure and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms.
Cuba’s National Electricity Union said that power would be restored gradually on Wednesday morning.
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