The storm that Florida has to face: Terrifying footage shows Hurricane Ian thrash Cuba with 125mph winds that ripped trees out ground and dumped electric poles on classic cars – as tempest turns to Tampa

• Cuba has been battered by Hurricane Ian, which was upgraded to a Catergory 3 storm overnight by the National Hurricane Center
• Terrifying footage shows trees being battered by the winds, as rain lashed down and caused flooding over swathes of the island
• The eyewall of Ian missed the capital of Havana, passing around 70 miles west of the city, as Pinar del Rio was hit

Cuba has been left in tatters after Hurricane Ian barreled through the area overnight – and is now setting its sights on Florida.

Telephone poles were ripped from the ground and strewn across the street by the 125pmh winds of the Category 3 storm.

Ian was upgraded from a Category 1 to a Category 3 overnight by the National Hurricane Center and hit Cuba’s North coast in Pinar Del Rio Province on Tuesday morning.

The slow-moving storm made landfall just south of Pinar del Rio at 4:30am on Tuesday, two hours after becoming the second major hurricane of 2022.

Terrifying footage shows trees being battered by the winds, as rain lashed down and caused flooding.  

A highly destructive storm surge of 14 feet crashed into the coast of cba with flash-flood damage most severe along the path of the hurricane.

The eyewall of Ian missed the capital of Havana, passing around 70 miles west of the city, as Pinar del Rio was hit by the left eyewall.

A highly destructive storm surge of 14 feet crashed into the coast of cba with flash-flood damage most severe along the path of the hurricane

A vintage car attempted to pass through the debris in the middle of the road, after trees were felled and branches covered the path 

Cars are seen parked under a bridge in Consolacion del Sur, Cuba, in an attempt to protectthem from the storm 

Buildings were destroyed, hurricane barriers few from properties and wires from telephone poles were seen laying in the street in the middle of mud and silt in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Parents were seen carrying their children to safety in the rain, as well as other locals returning to their homes to check on the damage.

Several properties had the rooves blown off while other locals moved their boats from a canal in an attempt to save them.

Thousands of residents were evacuated from the areas to save lives, and it is unclear exactly how much damage has been done by the hurricane.

Cuba’s capital, Havana, was hit hard by the storm with workers unclogging storm drains and fishermen taking their boats out of the water to try to protect themselves from the flooding.

A woman points to damage in her roof, above the second story, caused by Hurricane Ian in Pinar del Rio, Cuba

Destruction has hit Cuba hard, after authorities carried out evacuations on Monday in an attempt to protect the island from the storm

Ian cut power to nearly 1 million people in Cuba, with one resident describing the hurricane as ‘the darkest night of her life’

A utility pole lies on the street in Consolacion del Sur, Cuba, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian hitting the island

A horsecart was left underneath a bridge in Consolacion del Sur, Cuba, next to a homeless man sheltering from the extreme weather

Ian cut power to nearly 1 million people in Cuba, with one resident describing the hurricane as ‘the darkest night of her life’.

Mayelin Suarez, a Pinar del Rio resident who sells ice cream in the provincial capital told Reuters: ‘We almost lost the roof off our house. 

‘My daughter, my husband and I tied it down with a rope to keep it from flying away.’

Improvised metal roofs on homes and buildings throughout the region, where housing and infrastructure is antiquated and vulnerable, were scattered about streets and yards following the storm.

Palm trees were down along regional highways making travel near impossible at the height of the storm.

Ian made landfall in the Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people as well as cutting power to the entire province of 850,000 people as a precautionary measure.

People are seen on a street in Consolacion del Sur, Cuba, during the passage of the storm – Hurricane Ian made landfall in western Cuba early Tuesday

Strong winds are already battering palm tree’s at the Antonio Maceo Monument in Havana, Cuba, early on  Tuesday morning 

Telephone poles and other wires were downed by the high winds of Hurricane Ian which is currently heading towards Florida

A local in Malecon, Havana, in Cuba, took the time to take a picture of the massive waves that were rocking the shoreline 

Several properties had the rooves blown off while other locals moved their boats from a canal in an attempt to save them

 State-run media said farmers had secured 33,000 tonnes of tobacco from prior harvests ahead of the storm, though images on social media showed widespread destruction in many tobacco fields.  

 Felix Hernandez, a 51-year-old night watchman at a liquor factory in the Cuban capital, said it was business as usual in Havana following the storm.

Early in the morning, street vendors were peddling avocado, and lines for chicken – an everyday phenomenon in Cuba – already stretched for blocks.

He said: ‘We are incredibly fortunate Ian did not cross Havana because more than half of the city would have collapsed.’ 

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