Hurricane Ian was growing stronger as it approached the western tip of Cuba on Monday, on a track to hit the west coast of Florida as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday.

Ian was forecast to hit Cuba as a major hurricane and then become an even stronger Category 4 with top winds of 140 miles over warm Gulf of Mexico waters before striking Florida along a stretch of coast including the Tampa Bay area.

“Please treat this storm seriously. It’s the real deal. This is not a drill,” Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley said at a Monday news conference on storm preparations in Tampa.

Authorities in Cuba suspended classes in Pinar del Rio province and planned evacuations Monday as Ian gained strength on approach to Grand Cayman and the Cuban provinces of Isla de Juventud, Pinar del Rio and Artemisa. Cuba also was shutting down its train system ahead of the worst weather.

“Cuba is expecting extreme hurricane force winds, also life threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall,” U.S. National Hurricane Center senior specialist Daniel Brown told The Associated Press early Monday.

At 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, Ian was moving northwest at 13 mph, about 240 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba, with top sustained winds increasing to 80 mph.

As the hurricane approached the Cayman Islands, members of the government and opposition were working together “to ensure that our people are made as safe as possible -- the supplies, plywood, in some cases sandbags, are distributed so that they can safely weather this storm," Premier Wayne Panton said in a video posted Sunday. "We must prepare for the worst and absolutely pray and hope for the best.”

“Ian is not expected to spend much time over western Cuba, and additional strengthening is likely over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday,” the center said. "Ian is likely to have an expanding wind field and will be slowing down by that time, which will have the potential to produce significant wind and storm surge impacts along the west coast of Florida.”

A surge of up to 10 feet of ocean water and 10 inches of rain was predicted across the Tampa Bay area, with as much as 15 inches in isolated areas. That's enough water to inundate low-lying coastal communities.

Florida residents were getting ready, lining up for hours in Tampa to collect bags of sand and clearing store shelves of bottled water. As many as 300,000 people may be evacuated from low-lying areas in Hillsborough County alone, county administrator Bonnie Wise said at a news conference Monday on preparations.

Some of those evacuations were beginning Monday afternoon in the most vulnerable areas, with schools and other locations opening as shelters. “We must do everything we can to protect our residents. Time is of the essence,” Wise said.

A hurricane watch was issued for Florida's central western coast including the Tampa Bay area, where Hillsborough County suspended classes through Thursday to prepare schools to serve as shelters for evacuees. Additional watches for more northern areas along the peninsula’s west coast may be issued, Brown said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency throughout Florida and urged residents to prepare for the storm to lash large swaths of the state with heavy rains, high winds and rising seas.

President Joe Biden also declared an emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance to protect lives and property. The president postponed a scheduled Sept. 27 trip to Florida because of the storm.

Flash and urban flooding was predicted for much of the Florida peninsula midweek, and then heavy rainfall was possible for the southeast United States later this week. With tropical storm force winds extending 115 miles from its center, watches were issued Monday from the Florida Keys to Lake Okeechobee.

As of Monday, Tampa and St. Petersburg appeared to be among the most likely targets for their first direct hit by a major hurricane in a century.

Bob Gualtieri, sheriff of Pinellas County, Florida, which includes St. Petersburg, said in a briefing that while no one will be forced to leave, “mandatory” evacuation orders are expected to begin Tuesday.

“What it means is, we’re not going to come help you. If you don’t do it, you’re on your own,” Gualtieri said.

The evacuation zone is all along Tampa Bay and the rivers that feed it, encompassing MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa International Airport and well-known neighborhoods such as parts of Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Ybor City.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch urged residents not to ignore any evacuation orders. “This is a very real threat that this storm poses to our community,” Welch said.

The hurricane center has advised Floridians to have hurricane plans in place and monitor updates of the storm’s evolving path.

___

Associated Press writer Julie Walker contributed to this report from New York.

Video above: Live coverage from WDSU in New Orleans

Hurricane Ida rapidly grew in strength early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane just hours before hitting the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus.

As Ida moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico, its top winds grew by 45 mph to 150 mph in five hours. The system was expected to make landfall Sunday afternoon, set to arrive on the exact date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.

Ida threatened a region already reeling from a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, thanks to low vaccination rates and the highly contagious delta variant.

New Orleans hospitals planned to ride out the storm with their beds nearly full, as similarly stressed hospitals elsewhere had little room for evacuated patients. And shelters for those fleeing their homes carried an added risk of becoming flashpoints for new infections.

On Grand Isle, where Ida appeared to be heading for landfall, the ocean steadily rose as increasingly bigger waves churned Sunday morning.

In New Orleans, where the worst weather is expected later, a light rain fell. Cars were parked on the median, which locals call neutral ground in New Orleans, because it's a few feet higher and can protect against potential flooding.

Ida intensified so swiftly that New Orleans officials said there was no time to organize a mandatory evacuation of its 390,000 residents. Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to leave voluntarily. Those who stayed were warned to prepare for long power outages amid sweltering heat.

Nick Mosca was walking his dog, like most of those who were out.

“I’d like to be better prepared. There’s a few things I’m thinking we could have done. But this storm came pretty quick, so you only have the time you have," Mosca said.

Gov. John Bel Edwards vowed Saturday that Louisiana's “resilient and tough people” would weather the storm. He also noted shelters would operate with reduced capacities “to reflect the realities of COVID.”

Edwards said Louisiana officials were already working to find hotel rooms for many evacuees so that fewer had to stay in mass shelters. He noted that during last year's hurricane season, Louisiana found rooms for 20,000 people.

“So, we know how to do this,” Edwards said. “I hope and pray we don’t have to do it anywhere near that extent.”

In coastal Gulfport, Mississippi, a Red Cross shelter posted signs displaying directions for evacuees along with warnings about COVID-19. With skies still sunny, only a handful of people had shown up Saturday evening.

Shelter manager Barbara Casterlin said workers were required to wear face masks. Evacuees were encouraged to do the same. Anyone who refuses will be sent to an isolated area, she said, and so will people who are sick.

“We’re not checking vaccinations,” Casterlin said, “but we are doing temperature checks two or three times a day.”

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Ida's arrival.

Comparisons to the Aug. 29, 2005, landfall of Katrina weighed heavily on residents bracing for Ida. A Category 3 storm, Katrina was blamed for 1,800 deaths as it demolished oceanfront homes in Mississippi and caused levee breaches and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans.

Officials stressed that the levee and drainage systems protecting the city had been much improved since Katrina. But they cautioned flooding was still possible with up to 24 inches of rain forecast in some areas.

Edwards said 5,000 National Guard troops were being staged in 14 Louisiana parishes for search and rescue efforts. And 10,000 linemen were on standby to respond to electrical outages.

Ida posed a threat far beyond New Orleans. A hurricane warning was issued for nearly 200 miles of Louisiana’s coastline, from Intracoastal City south of Lafayette to the Mississippi state line. A tropical storm warning was extended to the Alabama-Florida line.

Meteorologist Jeff Masters, who flew hurricane missions for the government and founded Weather Underground, said Ida is forecast to move through “the just absolute worst place for a hurricane.”

The Interstate 10 corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is a critical hub of the nation’s petrochemical industry, lined with oil refineries, natural gas terminals and chemical manufacturing plants. Entergy, Louisiana’s major electricity provider, operates two nuclear power plants along the Mississippi River.

A U.S. Energy Department map of oil and gas infrastructure shows scores of low-lying sites in the storm’s projected path that are listed as potentially vulnerable to flooding.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico —

Tropical Storm Fred swept into the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, then weakened to a tropical depression after nightfall while dumping heavy rains that forecasters warned could cause dangerous flooding and mudslides there and in neighboring Haiti.

Some 300,000 customers were without power in the Dominican Republic and more than a half million were affected by swollen rivers that forced part of the aqueduct system to shut down, government officials reported.

After a quiet month of no named storms in the region, Fred became the sixth of the Atlantic hurricane season late Tuesday as it moved past the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on a forecast track that would carry it toward Florida over the weekend.

Government crews with megaphones walked through impoverished neighborhoods in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo ahead of the storm urging those in low-lying areas to evacuate. Hours later, the government reported flooding in one courthouse.

Tropical storm warnings were discontinued in the U.S. territories after pelting the islands with rain, leaving some 13,000 customers without power in Puerto Rico.

Fred was centered 25 miles (35 kilometers) south of Cap Haitien, Haiti, on Wednesday night and moving west-northwest at 15 mph (24 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph).

Forecasters said Fred was expected to become a tropical storm again Thursday as it moved near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas and then pass north of the northern coast of central Cuba on Friday. People in Florida were urged to monitor updates.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi had closed government agencies on Tuesday at noon and officials noted that some gas stations had shut down after running out of fuel.

More than a month had passed since the last Atlantic storm, Hurricane Elsa, but this time of summer usually marks the start of the peak of hurricane season.

The storm was expected to produce rainfall of 3 to 5 inches (7 to 12 centimeters) over the Dominican Republic with up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) in some areas.

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Department, Colorado State University and Phil Klotzbach and his team have put out their 2021 hurricane season forecasts. 17 named storms is what they're calling for. Eight hurricanes, four major hurricanes, that is, by every definition and above average season. The 30 year blocks of average is that we use have just been updated. And the new update includes 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes, as the average were obviously forecasting well above that average with 17 named storms. A couple of takeaways after kind of reading. His paper on this that I find interesting is that he's forecasting roughly 20 more hurricane days this year versus a normal season, meaning that out of the entire six month span there would be about 20 additional days that we would be tracking a name system out in the Atlantic. Now when we localize this and come to Florida, the forecast from Colorado State University says that there is a 96% chance that there would be a name storm within 50 miles of the Florida coastline this year, a 75% chance that there would be a hurricane around our coastline this year within 50 miles and a 41% chance of a Category three storm being within 50 miles of our coastline. What I think is interesting is that comparing those numbers to last year's numbers, we're looking at a 7 to 10% increase in our threat here in Central Florida. Averages. You can see there on the left column 86% chance of a named storm being in the Florida vicinity. 58% chance for hurricane, 28% chance for a Category three. I mean, those numbers are significantly higher. The patterns are just looking to favor not only a more active season as a whole, but a more active, potentially local impact season last year. Of course, we know very well that the state of Florida relatively unscathed from any tropical development and impacts. But we're not that far off 54 days until the start of the hurricane season. So, yes, just to wrap up once again, Colorado State University Phil Klotzbach and Team have put out their updated forecast. They're calling for 17 named storms eight hurricanes, four of which our major hurricanes now you can dive in depth more on this by heading over to west dot com. And while you're on west dot com related to this is our hurricane forecast that we put out. I spent hours and hours and hours on ours, and it's on the West forecast, and it's not in competition with Colorado State. We kind of do two different things. I'm looking at coastline area that has a higher threat and also timelines on when those threats could play out. So check it out west dot com forward slash hurricanes for that other part of the puzzle. But with only mere weeks until hurricane season, I just want to encourage you and your family to do what you need to do to be prepared. Start purchasing uh, items as you go to the grocery store just a little here, a little there. You know, I know every single year when Florida has some sort of a threat, there's always at least one person that says I can't afford to get hurricane supplies. What do I do? And they come at it from a place of sheer desperation. We don't want that to be you, so every time you go to the grocery store to the public, the Walmart, Walgreens and CVS. The all the the Bravo, whatever it is, by a little extra, something nonperishable. You know, it could be canned food. Make sure have a manual can opener. It could be a flat of spring water or filtered water. Or just as you're using milk for the family, start rinsing out the milk jugs so that you can say that the idea is you want to be able to be self sustained for about a week if a hurricane knocks out power and water to your community. Uh, certainly we don't want this. But with today and the drop of Colorado State University's hurricane forecast, it's a good opportunity to just keep that in the back of your head. Okay, so remember that I will have much more on coffee talk tomorrow morning with this. Of course, the entire West to Coverage team will have much more on this Kellyanne class at noon. Cam and Tony in the in the evening and then, of course, beyond that will be ramping up to hurricane season with our hurricane special in just mere weeks as well. That's it. I'm meteorologist Eric Burress. Have a great, great great day

NOAA reveals its prediction for 2021 hurricane season

Updated: 1:38 PM EDT May 20, 2021

Video above: Colorado State unveils its hurricane season forecastThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center is predicting an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. NOAA's prediction sees a 60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a near-normal season and only a 10% chance of hurricane season being below normal. Despite the forecast for an above-average season, experts with NOAA said they do not expect it to see storm activity like 2020. Forecasters believe there will be between 13 to 20 named storms, between six to 10 of those could be hurricanes, including three to five major hurricanes. The predictions are made with 70% confidence, according to NOAA. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30. "With hurricane season starting on June 1, now is the time to get ready and advance disaster resilience in our communities," said FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell. “Visit Ready.gov and Listo.gov to learn and take the steps to prepare yourself and others in your household. Download the FEMA app to sign-up for a variety of alerts and to access preparedness information. Purchase flood insurance to protect your greatest asset, your home. And, please encourage your neighbors, friends and coworkers to also get ready for the upcoming season.”

Video above: Colorado State unveils its hurricane season forecast

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center is predicting an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season.

NOAA's prediction sees a 60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a near-normal season and only a 10% chance of hurricane season being below normal.

Despite the forecast for an above-average season, experts with NOAA said they do not expect it to see storm activity like 2020.

Forecasters believe there will be between 13 to 20 named storms, between six to 10 of those could be hurricanes, including three to five major hurricanes.

The predictions are made with 70% confidence, according to NOAA. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30.

"With hurricane season starting on June 1, now is the time to get ready and advance disaster resilience in our communities," said FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell. “Visit Ready.gov and Listo.gov to learn and take the steps to prepare yourself and others in your household. Download the FEMA app to sign-up for a variety of alerts and to access preparedness information. Purchase flood insurance to protect your greatest asset, your home. And, please encourage your neighbors, friends and coworkers to also get ready for the upcoming season.”

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