juk hi, everybody. i'm aaron gill krinchts i'm mcfadden. "nbc news daily" starts right now. today monday september 26th, 2022. bracing for ian. all of florida under a state of emergency now evacuation orders in place and ian is set to become a dangerous cat 4 hurricane. the urgent preparations now under way. aiming for an asteroid. nasa set to deliberately send a spacecraft into a gigantic walk

for science. why this test is going forward. and criminals uber drivers across the country unknowingly delivering packages filled with drugs. how it's happening and how the company is responding. and prepare for takeoff. delta air lines flies the first all-female flight to the kennedy space center. how these women are inspiring the next generation. >> we begin the hour with breaking news and the dangerous threat from hurricane ian. >> right now ian is just off the coast of cuba. the hurricane is expected to get even stronger in the coming hours. it's forecast to become a severe category 4 hurricane. >> every count any florida is under a state of emergency right now, and evacuation orders are in effect for parts of tampa right now. millions of people are bracing are to the worst. filling sandbags, stockpiling gas, food and water. >> right now ian has its sights set on cuba. the island nation that will feel

the storm tonight and likely take a direct hit tomorrow morning. >> leading us off this hour ellison barber in tampa and nbc meteorologist bill karins here to track the storm for us. >> alison, start with you. mandatory evacuations in place for parts of the area. how are people preparing. >> reporter: part of this county under mandatory evacuation odors known at zone a. about 20,000 people. this store where we are home depot in tampa, really all that's left of the hurricane supplies at least right now. batteries and a little bit of lanterns that remain. first here this morning, around 6:00 a.m., there was just an entire floor full of hurricane supplies. we have a gopro video to show you sort of what happened over the next few hows. people came in, came in came in, came in, soon all of those supplies, all of those generators were gone.