Death toll rises as Irma hits Florida
Four killed by strongest storm in Florida’s history Millions flee as downtown Miami is left 5ft under water
AT least four people are dead and millions had to be evacuated after Hurricane Irma rampaged across Florida, bringing the death toll from the devastating storm to 27.
The streets of central Miami were left under 5ft of water and the whole of the Florida Keys, a peninsula to the south, was under water. An unexpected change of course by the hurricane – which has already torn through the Caribbean – created havoc.
The hurricane had been expected to strike directly over the east coast of the state rather than the west, where it eventually hit land.
THE governor of Florida last night asked the world to ‘pray for everybody’ in the state as Hurricane Irma brought death and destruction.
The strongest storm in Florida’s history killed at least four people as millions evacuated their homes and fled the ferocious 200kph winds. Irma has claimed the lives of 27 people so far.
The streets of downtown Miami were left under 1.5 metres of water and the whole of the Florida Keys – a 160km-long peninsula to the south of the state – was submerged.
As 1.4million buildings lost power, Irma ground slowly north and threatened to flood the cities of Naples and Fort Myers with a 4.5m storm surge – enough to cover a house.
A last-minute change of course from the category 4 hurricane – which has already torn through the Caribbean, wiping out the infrastructure of entire islands – added to the sense of panic. It had been expected to strike directly over the east coast of Florida, rather than the west, where it eventually hit land.
This meant that people in the west, in places such as Tampa Bay, were underprepared and residents who had fled to the west ended up in the eye of the storm.
Florida governor Rick Scott said: ‘The first thing I ask everybody to do is pray for us.
‘I know a lot of people around the world want to help. The biggest thing you can do now is pray.’
He added: ‘I know the winds are going to be very devastating and life-threatening. But I’m also very concerned about the storm surge. People don’t realise it’s going to come into your house, it’s going to fill up maybe your entire first floor, and then it’s going to flow out. So I don’t know how you’re going to survive that.
‘So you just have to think about, you know, you’ve got to get to as high ground as you can and just pray.’
Bob Buckhorn – the mayor of Tampa, which is due to receive a direct hit today – brought in a curfew and said ‘we are about to get our own version of what hell looks like’.
He added: ‘We are about to get punched in the face by this storm. We need to be prepared. We know we are ground zero for this storm. We have avoided it for 90 years but our time has come to be ready.’
In the past few days, officials in Florida had ordered more than 6million people, or about a third of the state’s population, to evacuate.
As the 643km-wide storm made landfall, and up to 63cm of rain began to fall, 70,000 people were already in communal shelters.
Miami was battered even though it was 160km to the east of the eye
‘We are about to be punched in the face’
of the storm. Brutal 160kph winds and a 1.8m storm surge over-ran the downtown area, uprooted palm trees and sent debris flying through windows.
In the financial district, water was flowing into underground car parks of luxury apartment blocks and turning streets into rivers.
City officials said they would not send out police or paramedics to respond to emergency calls during the storm because the winds were too strong.
This meant a woman in the Little Haiti neighbourhood had to give birth on her own.
In the Florida Keys area, the National Weather Service office warned of ‘swathes of tornado-like damage’.
Larry Kahn, an editor for FlKeysNews.com, said: ‘Everything is underwater. And I mean everything.’
Irma was originally due to strike the south-east tip of Florida, but it changed course and hit the west coast instead. A spokesman for Collier County on the west coast said: ‘We thought we were safe.’
Alyssa Candelmo, 19, said that she, her parents and her grandparents decided to ‘ride it out’ when it looked like Irma was arriving on the east coast.
But when they saw the storm change course, they changed their tune. She said: ‘Everyone was like, “Oh, thank God”, and now it’s like, ‘Holy c**p, this is going to hit right where we’re staying.”’
Florida senator Marco Rubio said the west coast was the ‘worst route this thing could have taken’. He added: ‘The problem we have is there’s nowhere to move – the whole state’s being impacted by this.’
Next in Irma’s sights are the cities of Naples, Fort Myers and Tampa which is home to thousands of expats.
Residents there saw Irma sucking water far out to sea – before bringing it back with a vengeance.
The effect, called ‘ocean sucking’, is caused by the storm being so powerful that it draws water upward into its centre.
The tide is drawn away and the seabed exposed, before the water crashes back onto the land.
Naples is just 1m above sea level and the storm surge of 4.5m threatened to cause ‘catastrophic’ damage, meteorologists said.
Donald Trump has been given a ‘comprehensive briefing’ on Irma, the White House said.
Just six hurricanes in US history have made landfall at a greater intensity than Irma, the last being Hurricane Katrina in 2005.