Hurricane Ian has rapidly intensified, and is just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.
Hurricane Ian intensified to just shy of catastrophic Category 5 strength on Wednesday while heading towards US state of Florida. It is expected to hit the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, marking the region's first direct hit from a major hurricane since 1921. And now, a scary video of lightning bolts sparking around the massive, swirling eye of the hurricane is gaining traction online. The timelapse video, captured by satellite, has been posted on Twitter by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Other satellite images show winds moving in a circle, whirling round their central eye across the Gulf of Mexico.
The hurricane has already left millions without power in Cuba and the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has warned of "catastrophic storm surge, winds, and flooding" as it moves forward. "Ian has strengthened into an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," the NHC said in an advisory released at 5am on Wednesday.
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Hours later, it said that "data from a Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour" - just shy of Category 5, the strongest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
"This is going to be a nasty, nasty day, two days," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Wednesday. Authorities have already urged 2.5 million people to evacuate before the eye hits Florida.
Authorities are warning of catastrophic conditions with up to two feet of rain expected to fall on parts of the Sunshine State, and a storm surge that could reach devastating levels of 12 to 16 feet.
Hurricane Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness on Tuesday after battering the country's west as a Category 3 for more than five hours before moving back out over the Gulf of Mexico, the Insmet meteorological institute said.
Only the few people with gasoline-powered generators had access to electricity on the island of more than 11 million people. Others had to make do with flashlights or candles at home, and lit their way with cellphones as they walked the streets.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said that 3,200 national guardsmen have been called up in Florida, with another 1,800 on the way. Authorities in several municipalities are distributing sandbags to help residents protect their homes from flooding.