Hurricane Ian is now a major hurricane that made landfall in western Cuba early Tuesday morning and is pushing northward to the Gulf of Mexico headed for Florida.
Ian will slowly scrape up Florida's Gulf Coast before making landfall around the Tampa Bay area late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
Due to the impacts of heavy rain and damaging winds, Hurricane Ian is a 4 in the northwestern Caribbean on the AccuWeather RealImpactTM Scale for Hurricanes, and a 3 for the U.S. Forecasters emphasize that Ian will bring dangerous impacts ahead of its landfall, including flooding rainfall, destructive winds, storm surge, and possible tornadoes.
Drenching tropical rainfall from Ian will continue for several days, bringing flooding across Florida. Up to 16 inches of rain is expected in parts of the state with an AccuWeather Local StormMaxTM of 30 inches.
A life-threatening storm surge is expected to span from the Fort Myers area northward through the Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay areas between Wednesday and Thursday. The storm surge threat for the Tampa Bay area will be highly dependent on where exactly the storm will make landfall.
Businesses in Florida and surrounding states will need to keep a close eye on this storm as it approaches and should:
Hurricanes are not just a problem along the coast; they can also impact businesses several hundred miles inland. Don't wait for an imminent hurricane or tropical storm to prepare your business for one. The message is clear: Start planning now. AccuWeather for business has several tools to help you prepare for tropical storms and hurricanes.