Hurricane Ian is gathering strength and heading toward Cuba and the US state of Florida.

According to the US Hurricane Center, the hurricane reached a category 2 of 5 strength on Monday evening (local time).

"Life-threatening storm surges, hurricanes, flash floods and possible landslides" are expected in Cuba by Tuesday.

The hurricane may then move further towards the west coast of Florida with a magnitude of 4.

There, the meteorologists warn of storm surges from Wednesday - the risk is greatest between the cities of Fort Myers and Tampa.

Hurricane force winds are expected from late Tuesday evening (local time).

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On Monday evening (local time) there were already gusts of wind and light flooding in coastal areas of the island of Isla de la Juventud and the western province of Pinar del Río in Cuba, as reported by the state media.

According to the Communist Party newspaper Granma, evacuation has begun in Pinar del Río, affecting around 50,000 people.

According to a report by the Cubadebate portal, there were power outages on the southern Isla de la Juventud.

The governor of the southeastern US state, Ron DeSantis, had already declared a state of emergency at the weekend as a precaution and called on the population to take precautions.

Floods are expected, he said on Monday.

Several thousand National Guard soldiers were mobilized.

He hopes his state won't be hit too hard.

However, people should expect power outages – these could last for several days.

"Safety is paramount," warned DeSantis.

The hurricane could also potentially upset the next crew's launch plan to the International Space Station.

October 3rd is still being targeted as the launch date, said Kathy Lueders, head of manned spaceflight at the US space agency NASA, on Monday.

"But we also know that we have to work our way through the weather here at the Kennedy Space Center." The next possible alternative dates are October 4th or 5th, it said.

Based on the predictions, NASA had already postponed the test launch of the “Artemis” moon mission, which was actually planned for Tuesday, and instead ordered the rocket system to be moved back to the hangar.