HURRICANE Ian tore into western Cuba today, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category Four storm before it hits Florida on Wednesday.

Ian made landfall at 4.30am local time 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 socialist island’s main tobacco-growing region.

While Ian’s centre passed over the west of Cuba, with tropical storm-force winds extending outward 115 miles, the capital Havana faced rain and strong gusts this morning.

Residents had worried about flooding as the hurricane approached, with workers unclogging storm drains and fishermen taking their boats out of the water.

The US National Hurricane Centre reported 125 mph winds along Cuba’s coast, forecasting that the storm would strengthen even more over the warm Gulf of Mexico waters, reaching top winds of 140 mph before it makes landfall in Florida this morning.

“This is a really, really big hurricane,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, warning of damage all across the state, where hundreds of thousands of people received mandatory evacuation orders.