Page 19 - Prevent Fires News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

weather center and patrick oppmann is in cuba for us. good evening to both of you. petra, i'll start with. you are looking at pictures released today by nasa, a live view of hurricane ian that can be seen from the international space station as it fights over the storm. that is massive. where is hurricane ian right now? what can we expect? >> don, we just got the advisory here. it's about 1100 miles south of the western tip of cuba. crew the brunt of the storm system is gonna be felt initially in cuba in the coming hours, don, we think this will increase to a category three possibly ...

they have four shelters opening this morning at this hour here. they can hold about 4,000 people. but the evacuation order right now under way for zone a is about 40,000 people. so they're hoping that they will use those shelters as a last resort and go find family or friends on the east coast of florida or just get out of town. i spoke with the spokesperson for the emergency operations center here in punta gorda and he told me that their motto is hide from wind and run from water. he said a wall of water is not your friend. so you don't want to stick around here in punta gorda. cert...

the storm right now packing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. it is expected to strengthen further over the next 24 hours, and that's alarming to hear. >> ian is expected to hit florida's west coast late wednesday into thursday, and nearly 7 million people along the coast, including really all of tampa bay, a facing the risk of a life-threatening storm surge there. and people, they are all being urged to get out of harm's way and to do it now. tampa's mayor warning residents, if you can leave, just leave now. those are his words. florida's governor, ron desantis, announc...

now hitting south florida and the storm's eye is off of cuba's coast moving into the warm waters which means the storm could grow and get for powerful. it hit werp cuba hard overnight with winds and heavy rain just at-battering the island. the forecast models have it projected to make landfall in tampa bay as a major hurricane. storm surge is one of the biggest threats from the storm. and as much as two feet of rain could be falling in some parts of florida from this. officials there saying right now they are urging people into the storm's path to make the final presentations and of ...

i told each one of them, my conversation separately, whatever they need. sincerely, whatever they need, contact me directly. >> joining me now jamie rome, acting director of the national hurricane center. good to have you with us this hour. we saw in the most recent update, the 2:00 p.m. update that the storm was rapidly intensifying. the major concern at this hour seems to be the storm surge and also just how long this storm could sit. what are the areas that you're most focused on at this hour? >> i think water is going to be the big issue with this storm, both the incredibly heavy...