Oil and gas companies should not use the impending landfall of Hurricane Ian to raise gas prices, President Biden warned in a speech Wednesday.
Driving the news: Biden said Ian provided "no excuse" for price increases at the pump and that he would ask officials to look into potential "price gouging" if gas companies are found using the storm as a reason to raise rates.
More than 2,000 flights into, within or out of the U.S. were canceled as of mid-morning Wednesday as Hurricane Ian prepares to make landfall in Florida, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
By the numbers: Florida's Orlando International Airport had canceled at least 316 scheduled departure flights as well as 385 arrival flights, per the tracker.
Several tornadoes were reported to have struck Florida after Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified on Tuesday night.
The big picture: Ian's outer bands spawned tornadoes along the east coast of Florida as it reached Category 3 intensity Tuesday ahead of an expected ramp-up to a Category 4 on Wednesday. The tornado threat to southeast Florida counties continued overnight as the major hurricane moved closer.
All of Cuba was without power late Tuesday after Hurricane Ian swept through in the morning and severely flooded the Caribbean island.
The latest: Work was under way to restore power to the nation of 11 million after the electrical grid collapsed due to the major hurricane, per a statement from Cuba's Electric Union.
Scientists say it's time to take the threats posed by asteroids seriously and prepare for the possibility that one could be found on a collision course with Earth.
Why it matters: Asteroid strikes are rare, but the danger posed by even a relatively small one impacting Earth over a populated area could be serious, and it might be harder to spot these hazardous space rocks in the future.
Puerto Ricans are scrambling to figure out how — or whether — to rebuild after yet another major disaster.
State of play: About 33%of homes and businesses were still without power Tuesday morning — more than a week after Hurricane Fiona hit, according to Luma Energy, the island's grid operator. Thousands still don’t have running water.
Ian strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane just before making landfall over western Cuba on Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.
State of play: The now-major hurricane continued to strengthen after making landfall in Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, the NHC said in a 4:30am tweet. The storm's outer rain band began on Monday night lashing coastal areas of Florida, where it could hit as a Category 4 hurricane as early as Wednesday.
The eyewall Hurricane Ian was nearing Cuba early Tuesday as Florida was lashed with the outer bands of the Category 2 storm — which the National Hurricane Center warns could rapidly intensify into a Category 4 by midweek.
State of play: Ian was packing maximum sustained winds of 110 mph some 85 miles east of the western tip of Cuba at 2am Tuesday — just 1 mph off being classified as a major hurricane. There's a "danger of life-threatening storm surge" along much of the Florida west coast," the NHC said.
Hurricane Ian triggered evacuation orders across much of Florida’s Gulf Coast as the storm's outer bands unleashed heavy rains across the region on Monday night ahead of expected "life-threatening" storm and flooding by midweek.
Why it matters: Ian's expected to intensify further as it passes near or over western Cuba Tuesday while tracking toward Florida.
