Florida Governor Warns “Leave Now” as Category 4 Irma Approaches Coast

Residents of the Keys were among 6.3 million people ordered to evacuate the state, including 700,000 added by Governor Rick Scott on Saturday. “This is a powerful storm bigger than our state”. Irma is expected to hit Florida early Sunday, causing major damage due to high winds and flooding to the fourth-largest US state by population.

The first predictions were that Hurricane Irma would hit Miami square-on. In Collier County, which includes part of the Everglades, more than 11,800 people were housed in 30 shelters. “We are running out of time”.

“For gas stations in evacuation zones, we need you to stay open as long as you can so people can get as much fuel and get out. And our state has never seen anything like it”. “Hurricane Irma is now impacting our state”, he said at a news conference.

Key West airport has already stopped all flights, and Fort Lauderdale Airport is scheduled to have its last flight depart Friday evening.

Antigua has issued a hurricane warning for Barbuda and Anguilla.

Numerous studies have predicted that storm surges will become more frequent and deadly as the planet warms. On the night of September 7, the storm made landfall on St. Martin, a tiny island of 74,000 people, popular with European tourists, reported The Atlantic.

An overturned truck and scattered debris following passage of Hurricane Irma on the French island of Saint-Martin. “It’s just unbelievable. It’s indescribable”.

More than 100 prisoners are said to have escaped from a prison in the British Virgin Islands. Virginia and Alabama were under states of emergency.

In Haiti, flooding was reported in the country’s northwest region and a major national road connecting Cap-Haitien to Ouanaminthe was rendered impassible after a river washed over it, the country’s Office of Civil Protection reported.

The death toll in the Caribbean stood at at least 21 and was expected to rise as rescuers reached some of the hardest-hit areas.

Miami Beach, a beachfront barrier island in front of Miami normally teeming with tourists, young families, and attractive people hoping to be admired, was deserted on Saturday. The Guardian reported that at least three people have been confirmed dead and rescuers are looking for missing people. The USGS model adds information about the beach slope, dune height, sea floor topography and other features to predict how high waves and surge will move up the beach and whether the protective dunes will be overtopped.

In the province’s main city Caibarien, an AFP reporter said deafening gusts of wind were sweeping the area and 6,250 people had been evacuated to state refuges or other peoples’ homes. So that’s why we think that Irma even has an opportunity to, however strong it is when it’s near Cuba, to get stronger when it hits Florida.

Wind speeds are expected to steadily increase throughout the day on Saturday, and the storm’s center is forecast to arrive in the Keys on Sunday morning, then travel up the west coast of the peninsula.

Tampa has not been struck by a major hurricane since 1921, when its population was about 10,000, National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said. Coastal water could rise up to 15 feet – flooding homes and businesses, forecasters warned.

Irma will likely make landfall as a Category 4 storm. Now the area has around 3 million people.