Hurricane Ian strengthens to a dangerous Category 4 storm, set for landfall in Florida today

By Breaking Belize News Staff: Hurricane Ian has strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it draws closer to landfall later today in Florida.

According to the Weather Channel, I​an is packing maximum sustained winds of 140 mph as of 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday morning.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that a life-threatening storm surge is expected along the Florida west coast and the Lower Florida Keys where a storm surge is in effect with the highest risk from Naples to the Sarasota region.

“Heavy rainfall will spread across the Florida peninsula through Thursday and reach portions of the Southwest later this week and this weekend,” the NHC noted.

CBS news is reporting that about 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders as the hurricane started lashing the Florida peninsula with heavy rain and tropical storm-force winds in the early hours.

On Tuesday, Ian tore across Cuba with sustained winds of up to 125 mph damaging the country’s power grid offline and leaving the entire country in the dark.

Ian would be the first major hurricane to hit the US this year, and the first major hurricane to hit the Tampa area since 1921.

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