Hurricane Ida makes landfall in Cuba before hitting US

Hurricane Ida struck Cuba on Friday, making its first landfall in the afternoon hours on the southern Isle of Youth before heading toward the western end of the Caribbean nation.

Ida intensified rapidly from a tropical storm to a hurricane with top winds of 80 mph (128 kph) as it crossed western Cuba and entered the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Hurricane Center predicted Ida would strengthen into an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, with top winds of 140 mph (225 kph) before making landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast late Sunday.

The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning for its westernmost provinces, where forecasters said as much as 20 inches (50 centimetres) of rain could fall in places, possibly unleashing deadly flash floods and mudslides.

Farmers in the Pinar del Río province, famous for its tobacco plantations, hurried the harvest to prevent the hurricane from ruining the crop.

Authorities reported that 35,000 tons of leaves had been stored in covered warehouses.

In addition, 22,000 head of cattle were moved to highlands.