Hurricane Ian: Florida braces for severe storm, UAE issues advisory; more than 1,200 US flights cancelled

About 2.5 million Floridians were under evacuation orders or warnings Wednesday night as the spreading storm was expected to make landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane. The Category 3 storm has maximum sustained winds of up to 129 miles per hour (208 kilometers per hour).

The National Hurricane Center said Tuesday afternoon that the area south of Tampa near Sarasota was the most likely place to make landfall, but stressed it was too early to know for sure. With miles of sandy beaches and many resort hotels, the area is a favorite among retirees and vacationers.

As Hurricane Ian approaches, the UAE embassy in Washington is calling on UAE citizens in Florida to exercise caution.

The embassy has urged UAE citizens to follow the safety instructions issued by the authorities and urged them to contact the embassy in an emergency.

The embassy tweeted: “Please follow the safety instructions issued by the local government and in case of emergency, contact the embassy on 0012024315530.”

Airlines cancelled more than 1,000 U.S. flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and several airports in Florida were shutting down operations as they braced for the impact of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in the state.

Airlines cancelled 321 flights on Tuesday and 1,148 on Wednesday, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.

About 1,400 U.S. flights to and from the U.S. were delayed as of Tuesday, according to Flightaware.com.

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport – located on a fragile peninsula east of Tampa Bay, ceased operations at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and Tampa International Airport will close at 5 p.m. Orlando International Airport has no plans to close, but officials said they were monitoring the storm.

“I knew I should be afraid of this, but I’m too busy to be afraid. I just know we have to go,” said John O’Leary, a Tampa-based jazz pianist who shared with him His wife was loading food, water and family photos into their car before heading to their mother’s home in Palm Harbor, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west.

O’Leary, 36, was among thousands of motorists fleeing low-lying areas hoping to avoid a potentially life-threatening storm surge that could reach 12 feet (3.7 meters), according to forecasters. Sarasota area.

“There is still uncertainty about the exact landfall location, but understand that the impact will be far beyond where the eye of the storm happens to make landfall,” Governor Ron DeSantis said.

Retired magazine editor Melissa Wolcott Martino also heeded the warnings, as she rushed her valuables, two cats and a rabbit on Tuesday morning before the hurricane. installed in the car.

“I wasn’t particularly scared until I saw the storm track this morning,” Martino, 78, said as he prepared to travel to his son’s home north of Tampa. “It looked like the eyes were going to be moving straight from our house. Now I’m very scared. Scared, so we’re leaving.” If Ian hits Tampa, it would be the first hurricane to make landfall in the region since the 1921 Tarpon Springs storm.

Despite warnings and orders, some residents refused to evacuate. “I’m staying put,” said Vanessa Vazquez, 50, a software engineer in St. Petersburg. “I have four cats and I don’t want to stress them out. And we have a solid house.” It could also prove to be one of the most expensive, as latest simulations show storm damage, Enki Research said on its blog on Tuesday. Estimated costs for and other impacts range from $38 billion to over $60 billion, depending on the exact trajectory and intensity.

Three dozen school districts were either closed on Tuesday or planned to close by Wednesday, according to the Florida Department of Education. Many schools were also used as shelters during the storm and its aftermath.

Tampa Electric is warning customers to prepare for a “prolonged outage.” The company will implement “targeted outages” for parts of the western fringe of downtown Tampa. The area has been evacuated.

Hillsboro County, which includes Tampa, opened 45 evacuation shelters where more than 600 people and their pets checked in, said Tim Dudley, director of emergency management.

Disneyland closed several attractions ahead of the storm, while the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved to Miami for practice ahead of this week’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

NASA’s lunar rocket returned to a safe hangar on Tuesday as Hurricane Ian approached Florida and is now unlikely to launch until mid-November.

Instead of trying to get it on its first test flight, the launch team moved the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket away from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. The four-mile (6.4 km) journey lasted all night.

NASA official Jim Free said it will be difficult to upgrade the rocket and return it to the launch pad for an October launch attempt. Loading in new batteries is especially challenging, Free noted, making it doubtful to attempt a launch before the launch period ends in mid-to-late October. The next two-week window will open on November 12.

The Walt Disney Company will close its Florida theme parks on Wednesday and Thursday as Hurricane Ian hits the state.

About 190,358 barrels a day of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut down on Tuesday ahead of Hurricane Ian, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said.

In total, Ian evacuated 14 oil and gas production platforms, the regulator said.