The Latest Breaking News from Cuba

A damaged hospital, destroyed homes, downed trees and power poles, and towns where residents wade through waist-deep water. Those are some of the images coming out of Cuba in the aftermath of the destruction left by Category 3 Hurricane Ian, which battered the island’s westernmost provinces Tuesday.

Forecasters say Hurricane Ian has become an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm as it approaches Florida’s west coast.

MIAMI — Hurricane Ian strengthened overnight into a major storm before making landfall over western Cuba, and an eastern tilt is set to take it into Tampa Bay as a powerful Category 3 Thursday morning.

Cuba’s westernmost province has been battered by Category 3 Hurricane Ian during the early hours of Tuesday, leaving destruction and uncertainty among the residents of small towns and the city of Pinar del Río.

A million people are without electricity after Hurricane Ian struck western Cuba. It could head for Tampa and St. Petersburg next, the first direct hit on those cities in a century.

The storm is scheduled to become a Category 4 hurricane before battering Florida on Wednesday as locals are leaving supermarkets empty as they rush to stock up on essentials

Cuba's electrical grid collapsed late on Tuesday, local officials said, leaving the entire country in the dark shortly after Hurricane Ian plowed through the western end of the island leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

Injuries were first reported in 2016

A strengthening Hurricane Ian’s rain and winds lashed Cuba’s western tip, where authorities have evacuated 50,000 people, as it roared on a path that could see it hit Florida’s west coast as a Category 4 hurricane.