Amazon has temporarily shut some warehouses in Florida as Hurricane Ian approaches the state, the ecommerce giant confirmed to Insider.
The ecommerce giant has temporarily closed warehouse sites near Tampa on the Gulf Coast and Orlando in central Florida, CNBC first reported, citing notices sent to employees. The warehouses are expected to stay shut until Friday, per the news outlet.
"We're closely monitoring the path of Hurricane Ian and making adjustments to our operations in order to keep our employees and those delivering for us safe," Richard Rocha, an Amazon spokesperson, told Inider. "We're in regular contact with our employees and delivery partners to ensure everyone is aware of any site closures or unsafe conditions and will continue to make adjustments as needed."
Amazon has more than 8,000 employees in the Tampa area and those scheduled to work will still be paid during the warehouse closures, the company told Insider.
The National Hurricane Center upgraded Hurricane Ian from a tropical storm to a Category 3 storm on Tuesday. It smashed into Cuba on the same day and knocked out the entire island's electricity, leaving the whole country without power, according to Reuters. The hurricane is now headed to Florida.
—National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 28, 2022
The National Hurricane Center said weather condition are expected to deteriorate across central and south Florida on Tuesday evening. Heavy rainfall is expected through Thursday, and is expected to reach parts of the southwest later in the week and through the weekend.
Amazon faces scrutiny over workplace safety issues. In December, six workers died at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois after the roof collapsed due to severe weather.
