An evacuation order has been issued for personnel at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, in anticipation of Hurricane Ian’s landfall later this week, according to a Sept. 26 tweet from the official base account.
“Col. [Adam] Bingham has issued an installation-wide mandatory evacuation to be completed by Tues. 27 Sep @ 1200L for non-mission essential individuals, including uniformed service members/dependents,” the tweet said.
Hurricane Ian is anticipated to hit the Florida coast as a Category 4 hurricane by the middle of the week, as forecasted Monday morning by Accuweather.
As of 11 a.m. local time Monday, Hurricane Ian was generating persistent winds of up to 80 miles per hour and was located about 100 miles west of Grand Cayman Island and 240 miles southeast of Cuba, the National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane-force winds are extending up to 25 miles from the storm’s center, while tropical storm-strength winds are reaching up to 115 miles outward.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis placed the state in a pre-landfall state of emergency on Sept. 24.
Rachel is a Marine Corps veteran and a master's candidate at New York University's Business & Economic Reporting program.
