Page 49 - Patrick Oppmann News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

An hour. it's gaining strength as it moves close to the florida shoreline. despite the grim warnings of a once-in-a-lifetime storm. some people are going officials piece to evacuate. emergency services have been stopped. those who stay behind might be on their own for hours. before moved into the gulf of mexico, it pounded parts of cuba. cuban officials say the storm dumped more than four inches of rain on the west edge of the island. flooding homes and businesses, knocking out power to more than half of the westernmost province. cnn's patrick oppmann has more from havana. >> hurricane vidalia...

More than 8,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas in Western Cuba ahead of Idalia, broadcasters said on state-run TV on Monday night.

Passing now, but throughout the day we'll continue to get this as the storm goes north towards florida and continues to pick up steam. >> patrick oppmann, we're glad you're okay. you gave the perfect example of what can happen and how quickly it can happen, which is why they want people to prepare and to evacuate in now ten counties here in florida because that kind of activity is going to get more intense as the storm intensifies. thank you so much, patrick oppmann, there for us in havana cuba. we are going to eventually hear from a storm hunter who has been chasing this storm and trying to s...

People to the west of where i am who are going to be without power. and brianna, these are still the same people who are recovering from hurricane ian last year. this is a hard-hit region. already people very much impacted by last year's devastating storm. and this certainly won't help. not nearly as powerful a storm as what florida is going to face in the coming hours. but quite an impact it left here all the same. >> yeah, we can see that in the pictures for sure. patrick oppmann live for us from havana. thank you. i want to bring in cnn's carlos suarez who is live for us in tampa, where the...

Disappear. look at that. unbelievable. the visibility just disintegrating there. we have cnn's patrick oppmann with us following this story. patrick, we saw there what happened. tell us what you've seen, what you're seeing. >> reporter: well, a glancing blow across the western tip of cuba but still leaving plenty of pain. if you get flooding in your house, if you have trees or electric poles go down near you, it certainly feels like a direct hit. and of course idalia hit here last night as a tropical storm and this morning became a category 1 hurricane. far less powerful than what floridians a...