TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Hurricane Ian's massive storm continues to gain strength as it approaches Cuba.
Ian is on track to strike Florida as a category 4 hurricane, as early as Wednesday.
Millions of people along the gulf coast are now taking precautions.
As one emergency management director put it, "this is not a drill".
Many Western New Yorkers have family and friends who have moved to Florida over the years, so there is plenty of concern.
Tampa and St. Petersburg are among the most likely targets for their first direct hit by a major hurricane, in a century.
Forecasters said the storm surge could reach 10 feet.
People along Florida's Gulf Coast are already stocking up on supplies.
Grocery stores are running out of water and food staples. Things like gas and generators are also getting harder to come by. Hundreds of thousands of people could face mandatory evacuation orders.
This includes Susan Zumalt, who is a Western New York native, now living in Clearwater just outside of the Tampa Bay.
Western native living in Clearwater, Susan Zumalt said, A lot of the old pros who have been here for awhile they'll say it is what it is. But a lot of the new people who haven't lived here long they'll be panicking. There's not much you can do. What's ridiculous is the gas lines. People are filling their cars but where are you going? You're not sure where this storm is going to go."
Zumalt said she lives 20 minutes away from the beach.
She has lived there since 1974.
She says she is planning to stay put in her town house for the storm and has friends with generators if the power is out for a long time, which is her biggest concern.
Former Buffalo native Nicole Stenhouse sent us this picture of the bare shelves at a Walmart store in Tampa.
Similar scenes playing out in stores across the sunshine state.
In Sarasota, just outside of Tampa, a Fredonia native said he will be hunkering down as they brace for the storm to pass.
Ryan Ricotta said, "Right before I got on here, we just got a notification that there's a storm edge warning for Sarasota County. I just got that alert before I came on. I will be boarding up my windows momentarily. I have plywood from previous hurricanes. We board up our windows. So, I'm just going to hunker down. I have plenty of water. I have D batteries for the radio. I have a couple of people who are going to end up coming over here because they don't have shutters or would for their houses."
Ricotta has lived in Sarasota, since 1999.
Since living in south Florida, he has only mildly experienced was Hurricane Irma's impact, when it made landfall in The Keys, in 2017.
