Officials expand Hurricane warning to southwestern Florida

Hurricane Ian moved across western Cuba Tuesday morning with winds of 125 miles per hour.

The storm left behind widespread flooding and power outages.

At least two people died and about 50,000 Cubans were evacuated.

In the United States, tens of thousands of Florida residents have been told to evacuate from their homes as the Category 3 storm gets closer to the Sunshine state.

Currently, Ian is forecast to build in strength Tuesday evening and move ashore south of Tampa by late Wednesday night.

Several airports in Florida plan to close with others announcing significant flight cancellations. More than 50 of the state’s 76 school districts have already canceled classes, with many public schools be turned into evacuation shelters.

Meanwhile, FEMA has already deployed 700 personnel to Florida and the governor has activated 5,000 state national guard with another 2,000 guard coming in from other states.

The White House says it is monitoring the situation and will provide Florida with the resources it needs.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told residents to prepare for Hurricane Ian, saying that the storm will really be a major event.

“Once it makes landfall, it’s going to slow down and really kind of crawl, but that’s going to dump an inordinate amount of rain, so you’re looking at, yes, a powerful hurricane, but a lot of surge and a lot of water which is going to cause a lot of flooding,” DeSantis said.