The US state of Florida is preparing this Wednesday for the arrival of Hurricane Ian, which has devastated western Cuba and is “rapidly intensifying,” which could have “catastrophic” consequences, according to local weather services.
Hurricane Ian, which is being classified as a Category 4 hurricane, is expected to cause “ocean disturbances, windstorms and flooding throughout the Florida panhandle,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. US in its most recent state.
With sustained winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour and even “higher” gusts, Ian is heading towards the west coast of Florida, where it is expected in the early afternoon of this Wednesday (local time).
The hurricane is then expected to “make landfall” during the day and “re-enter the western Atlantic Ocean on Thursday night.”
Between 12 and 18 inches of precipitation is expected in central and northeast Florida and up to 2 feet in certain places, according to the NHC.
“This is a big storm,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a news conference today, warning that Ian could make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
“Clearly, this is a very powerful hurricane that will have far-reaching consequences,” the governor said.
Evacuation orders were issued this morning for a dozen coastal counties in the state and, according to Ron DeSantis, they were generally followed, “but maybe not all.”
Warning that the journey would be “very, very difficult,” the governor urged people not to leave their shelter when the eye of the hurricane passes through the region.
“There’s actually a lull when the center of the hurricane is over you. Do you think the storm has passed? It hasn’t. It’s still very dangerous,” DeSantis said.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden also warned that Ian “could be a very violent hurricane whose impact would be devastating and life-threatening.”
Biden has already approved emergency federal aid for 24 of Florida’s 67 counties. Activities stopped in areas where the hurricane was expected. The Tampa airport, for example, suspended operations Tuesday afternoon.
According to the Pentagon, 3,000 National Guard soldiers have been deployed to Florida, with another 1,800 on the way. Hurricane Ian, then a Category 3 hurricane, hit Cuba on Tuesday, ravaging the west of the country for five hours before heading into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Cuban meteorological institute Insmet.
Two people died in the western province of Pinar del Río, according to Cuban state media. The country, with 11.2 million inhabitants, is “without energy service,” declared the state power company Unión Eléctrica on the social network Twitter.
As the surface of the oceans warms, the frequency of more intense hurricanes, with stronger winds and more precipitation, increases.
Hurricanes are also hitting areas that were previously unaffected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC – August 2021 Report), the proportion of particularly intense hurricanes (category 4 and 5) is expected to increase by 10% compared to the pre-industrial era with +1 warming, 5°C, 13% at +2°C and 30% at +4°C.
In particular, they represent a growing risk for coastal communities that are victims of wave immersion phenomena (also called marine submersion) amplified by rising ocean levels, causing flooding and saline contamination of land and water. .
Due to rising sea levels and marine flooding events, more than a billion people will live in at-risk coastal cities by 2050, according to the IPCC.
Source: TSF
