Richard Arnold: US correspondent as Hurricane Ian smashes into Cuba, Florida evacuating - The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 storm before it crashes ashore in Florida, where officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate.

Ian made landfall at 4.30am EDT Tuesday in Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, rushed in emergency personnel and took steps to protect crops in the nation's main tobacco-growing region.

The US National Hurricane Center said "significant wind and storm surge impacts" occurred Tuesday morning in western Cuba. Ian struck with sustained top winds of 205km/h. As much as 4.3m of storm surge was predicted along Cuba's coast.

Traffic builds along Interstate 4 in Tampa, Florida as Hurricane Ian approaches. Photo / Willie J. Allen Jr, Orlando Sentinel via AP

Ian was forecast to strengthen even more over warm Gulf of Mexico waters, reaching top winds of 225km/h as it approaches Florida's southwest coast. Tropical storm-force winds were expected across the southern peninsula late Tuesday, reaching hurricane force Wednesday morning.

"Right now we're focusing on west central Florida area as the main area for impact," hurricane specialist Andy Latto told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Shoppers at the Costco store in Altamonte Springs, Florida grab bottles of water from the last pallet in stock. Photo / Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel via AP

With tropical storm-force winds extending 185km from Ian's centre, damage was expected across a wide area of Florida, regardless of where Ian makes landfall. The hurricane centre expanded its storm surge warning to the peninsula's Atlantic coast, and expanded its tropical storm warning from Boca Raton to Brunswick, Georgia — a distance of about 603km.

Waves crash against a seawall as Hurricane Ian passes through George Town, Grand Cayman island. Photo / Kevin Morales, AP

Gil Gonzalez boarded his windows with plywood Tuesday and had sandbags ready to protect his Tampa home from flooding. He and his wife had stocked up on bottled water and packed torches, battery packs for their cellphones and a camp stove with a large propane burner as they got ready to evacuate.

"All the prized possessions, we've put them upstairs in a friend's house and nearby, and we've got the car loaded," Gonzalez said. He added: "I think we're ready."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said an estimated 2.5 million people were under evacuation orders. He urged people to prepare for power outages and to get out of its way.

"When you have five to 10 feet of storm surge, that is not something you want to be a part of," DeSantis said Tuesday. "And Mother Nature is a very fearsome adversary."

Hurricane Ian grew stronger as it barreled toward Cuba. Photo / Nasa Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System via AP

The hurricane centre expanded its hurricane warning to include Bonita Beach north through Tampa Bay to the Anclote River. Fort Myers is in the hurricane zone, and Tampa and St Petersburg could get their first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

"People on the barrier islands who decide not to go, they do so at their own peril," Roger Desjarlais, county manager of Lee County, where Fort Myers is, said early Tuesday. "The best thing they can do is leave."

The county issued mandatory evacuations for low-lying areas including Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Bonita Beach, where about 250,000 people live.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, left, speaks as he stands with Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Photo / Chris O'Meara, AP

As the storm's centre moved into the Gulf, scenes of destruction emerged in Cuba's world-famous tobacco belt. The owner of the premier Finca Robaina cigar producer posted photos on social media showing wood-and-thatch roofs smashed to the ground, greenhouses in rubble and wagons overturned.

"It was apocalyptic, a real disaster," wrote Hirochi Robaina, grandson of the operation's founder.

State media published photos showing broad floodwaters flowing through the town of San Juan y Martinez and more than 1 million Cubans were without power Tuesday morning, including all of the western provinces of Pinar del Rio and Artemisa. There were no reports of deaths.

A resident uses plastic as protection from the rain in Batabano, Cuba. Photo / Ramon Espinosa, AP

Ian's forward movement was expected to slow over the Gulf, enabling the hurricane to grow wider and stronger before it brings punishing wind and water to Florida's west coast. Forecasters said the surge of ocean water could reach 3m if it peaks at high tide. Rainfall could