Hurricane Ian, category 3, made landfall early Tuesday in the coastal town of La Coloma, in the province of Pinar del Ríowestern Cuba, where the inhabitants feel the blows of the strong winds, informed the Institute of Meteorology of Cuba.
“Hurricane Ian is already over Cuban territory,” said a meteorologist from the institute during the special broadcast on state television, noting that “the outer wall is on the coast of the province of Pinar del Río, in La Coloma,” a fishing village.
Ian becomes a major hurricane
Ian strengthened to become a Category 3 hurricane.indicated this Tuesday in a bulletin the National Hurricane Center of the United States.
“Ian becomes a major hurricane,” the NHC stated, adding that the storm registers winds of 185 kilometers per hour.
In addition, it is the fourth hurricane of the current cyclone season and the first to reach Cuban territory.
(Keep reading: Ecuador: new Minister of the Interior appointed after the murder of María Bernal).
In the municipality of Pinar del Río, capital of the homonymous province, in the west of the country, people began from the early hours of the day to prepare for the impact of the storm.
In total, more than 27,000 people have been evacuated, according to the state-run Cuban News Agency.
While in the town of Comala, near the coast, the figure is 50, 24 of them minors, as confirmed by those in charge of the local shelter.
(Also read: Cuba: what does the new Family Code that was ratified in a referendum say?).
The current cyclone season in the Atlantic (from June 1 to November 30) was described as “very active” with a forecast of up to 17 cyclones, nine of them with the possibility of reaching the category of hurricane.
At the beginning of last June, a heavy rainstorm associated with Cyclone Alex hit the central and western regions of the island, leaving four dead.
The last time a large hurricane affected Cuba was in 2017, when Irma crossed the north coast of the island from east to west, leaving 10 dead and material losses valued at 13,185 million dollars.
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EFE and AFP
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