By NAN Staff Writer
NEWS AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 27, 2022: One million people are without power in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province and most of the area is flooded, after Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a category 3 hurricane earlier today, September 27, 2022.
Ian made landfall in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, rushed in emergency personnel 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 sustained top winds of 125 mph (205 kmh). As much as 14 feet of storm surge was predicted along Cuba’s coast. The hurricane caused flooding in places like Batabano, Cuba.
Havana Times reported that virtually all types of bananas on the ground, rice lost, fields filled with water and the strong winds continues.
Infrastructure at the farm of Cuba’s world famous tobacco grower Alejandro Robaina suffered severe or total damage. A Tropical Storm warning is in effect for the Cuban provinces of La Habana, Mayabeque, and Matanzas.
Here are some scenes from the area.
Ian is moving toward the north near 10 mph (17 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue today. A turn toward the north-northeast with a reduction in forward speed is forecast tonight and Wednesday. On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico today, pass west of the Florida Keys later tonight, and approach the west coast of Florida within the hurricane warning area on Wednesday and Wednesday night.
