BREAKING: 2.5 Million Floridians Ordered To Evacuate. See Why

Update (1404ET):

Residents of coastal communities along Florida’s west coast have been ordered to evacuate, especially ones around the Tampa Bay region, ahead of menacing Hurricane Ian’s landfall expected late Wednesday or early Thursday.

USA Today said Ian is a “major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 storm before it hits Florida, where officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate.”

The “Know Your Zone” evacuation zone map shows that most of the west coast is under evacuation orders due to a storm surge threat.

Here’s the storm’s projected path with the Tampa region in crosshairs.

In a press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis said:

Heed those evacuation orders… Mother nature is a very fearsome adversary. So, please heed those warnings – you do not need to evacuate to another state, you don’t need to go hundreds of miles away… Evacuate to higher ground.”

Ahead of the storm’s arrival, highways out of Tampa (data via TomTom) are experiencing major delays as hundreds of thousands of people head to higher ground.

Scenes on the ground show bumper-to-bumper action on major roadways.

* * *

Update (1011ET):

Shares of Generac Holdings Inc. are up nearly 5% as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida. Generac specializes in backup generators for homes.

Google Search trends for “Generac” exploded this week across Florida.

Bloomberg notes social media volume of “Generac” is surging and remains very positive.

* * *

Ian rapidly strengthened Tuesday morning into a major hurricane over western Cuba as Florida’s west coast braces for what could be one of the worst storms to make landfall in Tampa in over a century.

Ian became a Category 3 storm earlier this morning, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is expected to sustain major hurricane status as it approaches the Florida west coast.

“The center of Ian is expected to move near or over western Cuba overnight and early Tuesday,” NHC said. It will then traverse over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, passing just west of the Florida Keys late Tuesday, and approach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday into Thursday.

Here’s Ian’s projected path.

On Monday, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a statewide emergency and activated thousands of National Guard members across the Sunshine State.

“You have a significant storm that may end up being a Category 4 hurricane.

“That’s going to cause a huge amount of storm surge. You’re going to have flood events. You’re going to have a lot of different impacts,” DeSantis said during a news conference.

Currently, Tampa is the highest area of probability where the storm makes landfall. More than 300,000 people are in the process of evacuating.

“This is a life-threatening situation,” Brad Reinhart, a hurricane specialist at NHC, said. “Promptly follow evacuation and other instructions from local officials.”

A 10 feet surge and more than 10 inches of rain are predicted across the Tampa Bay area.

Some areas could see more than 15 inches of rain.

The combination of the two could spark widespread flooding.

President Biden declared an emergency and authorized the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

via zerohedge

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