hello, and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m john vause, at the cnn center in atlanta. as we head into the midnight hour on the u.s. east coast, almost the entire state of florida is bracing for the impact of hurricane ian, a monster storm stressing 500 miles across. which earlier made landfall on cuba, blocking out the eyelids electricity grid and causing a nationwide blackout. 11 million people right now are in the dark, waiting for morning to assess the damage. as of, now there are no reports of fatalities. since leaving cuba, ian has grown in strength, fueled by the warm waters of the gulf of mexico, as it heads towards florida, now category 3, with sustained winds of 135 miles per hour. along with life-threatening storm surge, florida is facing catastrophic flooding and strong powerful winds. all they, long tuesday, residents across the state braced for the hurricane to make landfall. now expected the first forecast, and further south.
hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from the united states and all over the world. you re watching cnn newsroom. i m kristie lu stout. it is now 2 am on the u.s. east coast. almost the entire state of florida is bracing for the impact of hurricane ian, a monster storm stretching 700 miles across and getting stronger. causing a nationwide blackout in cuba, ian is turning in the gulf of mexico as a category three hurricane with sustained winds just shy of a category four. and along with life-threatening storm surge, florida is facing catastrophic flooding and powerful winds. now, conditions will deteriorate throughout the night ahead of the expected landfall in the coming hours. more than two and a half million people are under some form of evacuation warning. state authorities say the time to leave is quickly running out. people in southwest florida, this is going to likely make landfall as a category 4 hurricane. there will be catastrophic flooding, and life-threat
worried her roof might collapse. elizabeth, were you on the fence about whether or not you were going to evacuate. i was so afraid either way, i didn t know what to do. a lot of people have that idea that they can just wait and see what s going to happen. and that s the problem, because if they wait to see, we won t be able to help them. reporter: and it s not just seniors refusing to leave, going viral online, some florida residents adamant about riding out the storm. our family lives right outside of tampa and we have decided to hunker down. for the people who are not from florida, right, i ve got these big old windows. i don t know if they re going to hold up. reporter: but most are taking the warnings to heart. major roadways have been jammed for the last 24 hours and tampa s airport, completely shut down operations at 5:00 p.m. tuesday. reporter: it was nerve-racking. i literally got the last flight for the day. you re counting your lucky stars right now?
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, announcing that the tampa bay airport will be closed starting tonight at 5:00 eastern time. he also expect he has also expected, desantis to speak at any moment from tallahassee. we ll give you detainee on those preparations from the storm and bring you his update live in just moment. we are covering this dangerous storm. the only way cnn can. let s go first to our carlos flores, who joins us in tampa
also tonight, the hurricane is forcing the january select committee to postpone the hearing that was scheduled for tomorrow. this as the panel had some big decisions to make and some new questions to answer. plus, russia is claiming victory after the sham annexation votes. what is vladamir putin s next move as russians protest and thousands plea his military draft? welcome to the situation room. i m pamela brown. let s get to the newest forecast for hurricane ian and the damage it will be doing by this time tomorrow. jennifer, what is the latest on ian s power and path? pamela, we are within that 24-hour window where this storm will make landfall as a category 3, winds of 120 miles per hour, but gusts are up to 150 miles per hour now and moving to the north at 10 miles per hour. this storm is going to run parallel to key west within the next hour or so. you can see very close right there, so they are going to get the worst of the weather. but the worst is to come, b