HAVANA—Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba on Tuesday as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 storm before it hits Florida on Wednesday.
Ian made landfall at 4:30 a.m. ET Tuesday in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, rushed in emergency personnel and took steps to protect crops in Cuba’s main tobacco-growing region.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said “significant wind and storm surge impacts” were occurring Tuesday morning in western Cuba. Ian sustained top winds of 125 mph (205 kmh) as it moved over the city of Pinar del Rio. As much as 14 feet (4.3 meters) of storm surge was predicted along Cuba’s coast….