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Hurricane Ian is due to hit the West coast of Florida, as soon as Wednesday. If it continues its current trajectory, it will also hit Tampa and St. Petersburg.

These cities in Hillsborough County have not had a direct hurricane hit since 1921.

The county Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley had a storm prep news conference in Tampa. He urged viewers to “Please treat this storm seriously. It’s the real deal. This is not a drill.” 

Hurricane Ian moves towards Cuba

Hurricane Ian hit the western tip of Cuba on Tuesday morning. It is gathering strength with winds at 110 mph. 

It is anticipated that wind speed will be at 140 mph (225 km) by 8 pm Tuesday as it morphs into a category 4. Storm surges as high as 14’ were left in the wake of the storm.

Cuban authorities evacuated 50,000 people in the Pinar del Rio province. Emergency personnel and medical supplies are standing by.

Daniel Brown, with the U.S. Natl. Hurricane Center reported to the AP that “Cuba is expecting extreme hurricane-force winds, also life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall.” 

Florida prepares for storm

Ian is expected to get wider and stronger, "which will have the potential to produce significant wind and storm surge impacts along the west coast of Florida,” the hurricane center announced.

Approximately 300,000 people will be evacuated from low-lying areas in Hillsborough County alone, according to county administrator Bonnie Wise. Evacuations started Monday afternoon.

A series of shelters in schools and other public building locations are being prepared as shelters. In Tampa distribution sites had bags of sand and bottled water available for residents.

“We must do everything we can to protect our residents. Time is of the essence,” Wise said.

Evacuations will be announced as the storm gets closer. 

 St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch urged residents to stay current on the storm news and pay attention to evacuation orders.

“This is a very real threat that this storm poses to our community,” Welch said.

State of Emergency

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared an emergency. And he warned that Hurricane Ian could impact large areas in the state. And power outages along with interruptions in fuel supplies are expected.

“You have a significant storm that may end up being a Category 4 hurricane," DeSantis said at a news conference. "That’s going to cause a huge amount of storm surge. You’re going to have flood events. You’re going to have a lot of different impacts.”

In order to make evacuations easier DeSantis suspended tolls around the Tampa Bay area. And 5,000 Florida state national guard troops were mobilized, with an additional 2,000 on standby in neighboring Alabama and Louisiana if they are needed.

President Joe Biden declared emergency status. He authorized the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to provide assistance and coordinate disaster relief.

Biden had a trip planned to Florida on Tuesday which was canceled due to the storm.

NASA announced that the moon rocket on the Kennedy Space Center launch pad would be removed to the more secure hangar. This will add weeks to any future launch date.