Hurricane Ian reached its third level and struck western Cuba today, forcing residents to evacuate, leaving nearly 1 million people without electricity and ripping off the roofs of homes in provinces across the country.
The phenomenon, currently heading north towards Florida (USA), has approached Cuba’s north coast in Pinar del Río state, with winds of up to 200 degrees this Tuesday (27) morning. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported kilometers per hour.
The hurricane struck Cuba at a time of severe economic crisis. Even before the storm, hour-long power outages became daily occurrences in much of the country, and shortages of food, medicine and fuel are expected to hamper authorities’ efforts to restore damaged structures.
Meteorologists predict that after Ian crosses an agricultural region of Cuba west of the capital Havana and emerges in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, it will get stronger during the day and reach Category 4 before approaching the coast west of Florida.
Rain and winds hit the Cuban capital on Tuesday morning, but the area is expected to be protected from the 209kph winds that should reach Tampa in the US starting tomorrow with heavy rains.
The NHC warned that the storm could cause devastating and devastating damage, with some places becoming uninhabitable for weeks or months, and urged residents of Florida’s coastal cities to move to safe havens before the storm hits.
Hurricane can cause ‘devastating damage’
The risk potential of hurricanes is measured using the Saffir-Simpson scale, created in the 1970s by engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist Robert Simpson. The scale divides the strength of hurricanes into levels ranging from one to five, initially only taking into account the strength of the winds caused by the phenomenon.
Simpson later added another variant to the classification, the “storm tide,” which occurs when a hurricane’s strong winds combined with low atmospheric pressure push the tide above normal sea level and sometimes cause flooding.
In category 3 hurricanes, scale estimates “devastating damage will be recorded,” with homes being roofed, trees falling, and electricity and water services interrupted for days or even weeks, according to the United States National Hurricane Center.) Winds of this degree vary between 178 and 208 km/h.
At the fourth level, where winds range from 209 to 251 km/h, “catastrophic damage” is expected, with damage to even the foundations of homes, falling power poles and trees and insulation of residential areas. dissipating light and water for weeks or months, rendering areas “uninhabitable”.
In hurricanes that record winds of 252 km/h or more, at the top of the scale are category five phenomena that cause complete collapse of homes, electricity and water networks, while also necessitating the evacuation of residents in the most affected areas. . . .
* With information from Ansa and Reuters
source: Noticias
