Live
Audio Only
The center of hurricane Ian left Cuba in the vicinity of Puerto Esperanza, Viñales municipality, Pinar del Río, said Cuba's Meteorological Institute's Forecast Center.
The eye of the atmospheric phenomenon was estimated at noon today, according to Insmet's midday report, some 55 kilometers northeast of Puerto Esperanza and 225 kilometers southwest of Key West, Florida peninsula.
Maximum sustained winds dropped to 185 kilometers per hour, its minimum central pressure dropped to 963 hectoPascal and it is moving north at 17 kilometers per hour.
Heavy coastal flooding in southern Artemisa and Mayabeque will persist in the afternoon and evening, the Insmet midday report said.
It also noted that for the next 12 to 24 hours, Ian would remain a high-intensity hurricane transiting the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, gradually moving away from western Cuba.
But, Insmet clarified that the persistence of strong winds from the northwest, associated with the circulation of the intense hurricane Ian, will generate strong swells on the western region's north coast, where slight coastal flooding will occur in low areas of this coast.
Likewise, cloudy areas, showers and rains will persist in the western and central regions, which could become strong and intense in some localities.
He also indicated that this morning winds increased in the provinces of Artemisa, Havana and Mayabeque and there are reports of strong gusts of wind with a value of up to 110 kilometers per hour at the Casablanca station.
Hurricane-force winds, he added, have been maintained in Pinar del Río and reach tropical storm speeds between 70-85 kilometers per hour ( in the rest of the western region of Cuba, including the Isle of Youth, where they will gradually diminish in the afternoon and evening.
Newsletter
