Tropical storm warnings in Cuba, watch issued for lower Keys

Tropical Storm Ian continued to intensify as it approached Cuba late Sunday while a tropical storm watch went into effect for the lower Keys

But most of Florida continued to brace for the uncertain path of Ian.

The tri-county South Florida region still remains out of the current tracks for a direct hit from the storm, which is expected to be a major hurricane when it enters the Gulf of Mexico, and all Floridians should prepare for a major storm, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday.

The tropical storm watch from Seven Mile Bridge to Key West, including the Dry Tortugas, was included in a 5 p.m. update by the National Hurricane Center. A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within 48 hours.

At the 8 p.m. update, the storm had grown to a maximum sustained wind strength of 60 mph, still shy of the 74 mph to be classified a hurricane.

On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to pass near or west of the Cayman Islands on Monday, and near or over western Cuba Monday night and early Tuesday. Ian will then emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.

According to the National Weather Service/Miami, the storm is expected to intensify rapidly to hurricane strength on Monday as it moves into the Gulf and through mid-week as it approaches Florida.

The weather service continues to emphasize uncertainty in the storm’s path once it enters the Gulf, and said the storm is expected to expand in size as well. The models show a possible direct hit to the Tampa area all the way through the Florida Panhandle.

[ RELATED: Everything you need to know heading into the potential hurricane ]

Small changes in the path will make a big difference in the impact throughout Florida. In South Florida, widespread rain could lead to major flooding, accompanied by winds gusting up to tropical storm levels.

“Don’t get too wedded to those cones,” DeSantis said in a news conference Sunday at the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. “Even if you’re not necessarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there’s going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state.”

He said there could be heavy flooding on Florida’s east coast. And there’s no guarantee that the storm’s path will continue to move west as it has for the past two days.

“There’s uncertainty. The models are not in agreement,” he said. “Just don’t think if you’re not in that eye, you don’t have to make preparations. The last thing we want to have it bear east quickly and then have folks who are not prepared. It’s better to be prepared and not have to use those preparations than the opposite.”

This includes having an adequate supply of food, water, batteries, medicine and fuel, he said.

Most residents won’t need to evacuate, emergency officials said. People should first look on floridadisaster.org/know to see if they are in an evacuation zone. If not, they should assess whether their home can withstand tropical storm- or hurricane-strength winds.

“In Hurricane Irma, we over evacuated residents by nearly 2 million people,” said Kevin…