A vehicle passes downed palm trees in Miami GETTY IMAGES[/caption]
Hurricane Irma is blasting up the west coast of Florida after buffeting the city of Miami, with dangerous flooding along long stretches of coast.
It has been downgraded from category three to one but still has maximum sustained winds of 75mph (120km/h). More than 3.4 million homes in the state are without power, with parts of the city of Miami under water. At least four deaths have been linked to the storm and several areas have brought in curfews. Florida’s Director of Emergency Management, Bryan Koon, said late in Sunday he could not yet confirm or deny reports of multiple deaths and extensive damage. Search and rescue efforts are due to begin on Monday morning, he said. Irma cut a devastating track across 10 Caribbean countries and territories, killing at least 28 people there. President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration and emergency federal aid for Florida, describing the hurricane as a “big monster”. At 09:00 GMT, the centre of the hurricane was about 60 miles (100km) north of Tampa, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Some 3m people live in the Tampa Bay area. The region has not been hit by a major hurricane since 1921. Irma is expected to weaken into a tropical storm over far northern Florida or southern Georgia later on Monday but first its centre will continue to move over the western Florida peninsula, the NHC said.
These Tampa residents were out taking photos on Sunday as the storm strengthened Photo: REUTERS[/caption]- The South Santee river southward to Jupiter Inlet
- Cape Sable northward to the Ochlockonee river
- Tampa Bay
How did it arrive in Florida?
Irma made landfall on Marco Island off Florida’s west coast at 15:35 local time (19:35 GMT) on Sunday, with winds of up to 120mph. After leaving the coast of Cuba, Irma had barrelled through the Florida Keys, a chain of low-lying islands to the south, on Sunday morning.
How have residents felt the impact?
At least four deaths have been connected to the storm:- A police officer working at a hurricane shelter in Hardee County was killed driving home when she collided with another vehicle being driven by a fellow officer, who also died
- A person died in a single-car crash in Orange County
- A man died in Marathon, Monroe County, on Saturday when his truck hit a tree, the sheriff’s office said, adding that it was unknown if the crash had been weather-related or not
Which other areas have already been hit?
Irma is the most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade, and has already caused widespread destruction on several Caribbean islands:- Cuba: Officials have talked of “significant damage”, without giving further details, but no casualties have been reported. Electricity is out across the capital, Havana
- St Martin and St Barthelemy: Six out of 10 homes on St Martin, an island shared between France and the Netherlands, are now uninhabitable, French officials say. They said nine people had died and seven were missing in the French territories, while four are known to have died in Dutch Sint Maarten
Damage in Havana from Hurricane Irma Photo: AFP[/caption]- Turks and Caicos Islands: Widespread damage, although extent unclear
- Barbuda: The small island is said to be “barely habitable”, with 95% of the buildings damaged. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne estimates reconstruction will cost $100m (£80m). One death has been confirmed
- Anguilla: Extensive damage with one person confirmed dead
- Puerto Rico: More than 6,000 residents of the US territory are in shelters and many more without power. At least three people have died
- British Virgin Islands: Widespread damage reported, and five dead
- US Virgin Islands: Damage to infrastructure was said to be widespread, with four deaths confirmed
- Haiti and the Dominican Republic: Both battered by the storm, but neither had as much damage as initially feared
Source: BBC]]>
