6 million without power after Irma lashes Florida, heads north

The Caribbean saw scenes of catastrophic destruction, a preview of what Florida faces as the onslaught brought about by Hurricane Irma continues, as shown in the video below. Around 3.5 million people have been left without power in the storm, declared a major disaster by President Trump.

Irma made landfall on Florida’s mainland on Marco Island with 115 miles per hour winds. Ten people died on Cuba, where Irma hit the northern coast as a Category 5 storm.

After having claimed at least 27 lives in a host of Caribbean islands before hammering Florida, reports put the death toll in the State at five.

“The next couple of days and couple of weeks – probably months, in a lot of spots – are going to be very busy for a lot of people rebuilding”, said Ari Sarsalari, a meteorologist for the Weather Channel, according to NBC News. We’ve got downed power lines all across the state.

Two officers who had been helping at an evacuation shelter were killed in a vehicle crash in Hardee County, officials say. Nonetheless, barrier islands like Marco Island, near Naples, reported rising flood water and a loss of electricity and drinking water, authorities said.

This is the first year on record that the continental United States has had two Category 4 hurricane landfalls in the same year.

However, the widespread water outages and low water pressure throughout the Keys appear to be a result of problems with smaller distribution systems, the authority said, explaining it had issued a precautionary boil-water notice.

Tuesday afternoon should see highs near 65 and a 70 percent chance of rain.

“We feel the building swaying all the time”, Miami restaurant owner Deme Lomas told Reuters by phone from his 35th-floor apartment.

Some areas are still flooded in Naples, in southwestern Florida.

The mass exodus from southern Florida could become one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history, according to CNN.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport were closed on Monday.

South believes the hardest hit areas will be between Big Coppitt Key and Marathon with the brunt focused on the island of Big Pine Key.

The important part of the forecast for José comes over the weekend and next week, as Jose appears to strengthen as it makes it’s closest pass to the USA coast.