Cubans prepare for hurricane Ian's landfall

Hurricane Ian is nearing Cuba on a track to strike Florida as a Category 4 as early as Wednesday. Ian was forecast to hit the western tip of Cuba as a major hurricane and then become an even stronger Category 4 with top winds of 140 mph over warm Gulf of Mexico waters before striking Florida.

In Havana's El Fanguito, a poor neighborhood near the Almendares River, residents were packing up what they could to leave their homes, many of which showed damage from previous storms. This region, near the river Almendares, is especially prone to flooding and has suffered losses from previous storms. On Monday, Ian was moving northwest at 13 mph, about 155 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba, with top sustained winds increasing to 100 mph. The centre of the hurricane passed to the west of the Cayman Islands, but no major damage was reported there Monday, and residents were going back into the streets as the winds died down.