During Wednesday, the hurricane strengthened to category 4. It is described as extremely dangerous by the American hurricane center. Strength 4 is the second highest on the scale used to measure hurricanes. Large amounts of precipitation and heavy rain have already hit southern coastal areas. Satellite images show the hurricane approaching the coast of Florida on Wednesday. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Millions evacuated The governing authorities fear major floods, and have asked 2.5 million inhabitants to evacuate. Among them is Amy Darby and her five-year-old son Gavin. Their home in the city of St. Petersburg is prone to storm surge and is in a mandatory evacuation zone. – Everyone in my area had to leave. Because if you don’t leave during a mandatory evacuation, they won’t help you, says Amy to news. What awaits them when they are allowed to return, she has no idea. – It is scary. Very scary. We didn’t know what was going to happen when we left. Then they said the storm was going to be catastrophic for my area. So you don’t know if you will return to a house with a roof, or with floods. Amy Darby has evacuated to her aunt’s house north of Tampa. Here she is with her son Gavin and niece Gwen. Photo: Private – I said a prayer and left Already on Monday, Amy packed up and traveled with her son to her aunt north of the big city of Tampa. – His school closed, and my office closed at 2pm, so everyone could get home and make preparations or evacuate, she says. Amy had bought food and flashlights. She took in all the patio furniture, closed all the doors in the house and pulled curtains in the hope of keeping any glass out. From before – That was really all I could do. I said a prayer and left and hopefully it will still be there when I get back. They are supposed to be safe at the aunt’s place, but they definitely feel the approaching storm. – We just lost the power, she says around 10 o’clock local time. Gavin (5) and his cousin Gwen have their flashlights ready until dark. Photo: Privat Large areas According to the US hurricane center NHC, the hurricane will cause catastrophic storm surge, wind and flooding in southern Florida. The storm is expected to weaken after it makes landfall, but it could remain near hurricane strength on its way across the state’s east coast on Thursday. According to the NHC, “Ian” is expected to change direction to the north on Friday. The hurricane will then approach northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina late Friday. All of Cuba blacked out “Ian” has already hit the island nation of Cuba hard. With a magnitude of 3, it hit land on Tuesday morning. The entire country was blacked out in the ravages of the hurricane when the power grid collapsed. Cuban authorities are said to have worked to restore power to the island’s 11 million inhabitants, but on Wednesday morning it was still out across the country. In addition, the storm has led to flooding, destroyed houses and uprooted trees.
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