Ian strengthens into a Category 4 hurricane as it moves toward Florida

By Tim StellohNBC

Hurricane Ian strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm as it slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, knocking out power across Cuba.

As of 5 a.m. ET, the hurricane was located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west-southwest of Naples, with maximum sustained winds near 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour), according to the National Center for Hurricanes (NHC).

The center of the storm is moving toward the west coast of Florida and will move inshore during the day.

[“I see the thing a little ugly”: Tampa residents prepare for the worst of Hurricane Ian]

Flooding from the storm was already taking place by early Wednesday in the lower Florida Keys, according to the NHC, while thousands of customers were already without power in an early sign of the storm's power.

State Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters late Tuesday that the latest forecast called for the storm to make landfall in Charlotte and Lee counties, south of Tampa.

More than two million people along Florida's Gulf Coast are under evacuation orders.

Ian can reach Florida with category 4. The worst will be a storm surge of up to 12 feet

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He urged people who have not yet left to do so immediately and warned of the havoc the slow-moving storm could unleash across the state.

“When it actually gets to land, it's going to slow down to a trickle.

That's going to dump a tremendous amount of rain on the state of Florida," DeSantis said.

[This is how Hurricane Ian's wingspan is seen from the International Space Station]

Rain totals of 6 to 8 inches were forecast for much of the Florida Keys and southern Florida.

For the center and northeast, a foot to 18 inches is expected, according to the NHC.

DeSantis warned of possible tornadoes that had been picked up on radar and said the bridges were likely to be closed Wednesday.

Thousands of people in the southern part of the state had already lost power by Tuesday night, a number that will quickly rise to millions through Wednesday, according to the governor.

In Cuba, where Ian made landfall early Tuesday in the western province of Pinar del Río, the entire island -- home to 11.3 people -- was left without power after the storm damaged its power grid.

The agency said it expected power to be restored between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Violent gusts of wind shattered windows and ripped metal roofs off old houses and buildings.

Roads to areas directly affected by the hurricane remained impassable, blocked by trees and downed power lines, the Reuters news agency reported.

Hirochi Robaina, owner of a cigar factory in Pinar del Río, posted nearly two dozen photos on Facebook on Tuesday showing the damage left by the storm.

“It was apocalyptic.

A real disaster,” he lamented.