Wrath of Irma stretches hundreds of miles

Hurricane havoc across Florida and Georgia

Irma has killed one person in Georgia as rain flooded coastal communities.

Winds sent trees crashing onto homes and the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta cancelled hundreds of flights as the storm’s punch was felt statewide despite its weakened status as a tropical storm.

The city of Savannah, on Georgia’s coast, was evacuated for the second time in less than a year because of the storm, and the National Weather Service in Peachtree City confirmed that Atlanta more than 250 miles inland from either the Atlantic or Gulf coasts – was under a tropical storm warning for the first time.

One storm-related death had been confirmed in rural Worth County, Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Catherine Howden said.

The storm fatality occurred in southwest Georgia, where Irma’s centre crossed over from Florida yesterday afternoon. Tropical storm winds reached more than 400 miles from its centre, giving its powerful gusts and drenching rains a far reach.

Storm surge and rainfall arriving at high tide yesterday afternoon swamped communities along Georgia’s 100-mile coast. On Tybee Island east of Savannah, Holland Zellers was heading home to grab a kayak so he could reach a home where his mother had taken shelter near the beach.

By yesterday afternoon, more than 800,000 Georgia Power and EMC customers mostly in coastal and south Georgia were without power. Alabama Power said there were 12,000 outages mostlyinthesoutheasternareaofthestate.

One death in Florida, that of a man killed in a road accident during the storm, was blamed on Irma.

At least 36 people were killed in the Caribbean as Irma ravaged a string of resort islands. Irma’s wrath in the Sunshine State stretched hundreds of miles.

In the Keys, where the storm roared ashore on Sunday morning with winds of 130mph, search crews planned doorto-door checks on residents.

In Coral Gables, near Miami, fallen trees made streets look like jungles and damaged power lines buzzed.

After chairing a meeting of the UK Government’s emergency Cobra committee, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said 700 troops and 50 police officers had been sent to Anguilla, theBritish Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Turks and Caicos islands, while 40 tonnes of UK aid had arrived in the region.

“We are also sending more police into both the BVI and into Anguilla, so that security has improved and a sense of confidence is rising,” he added.

Picture: Getty. Trees bend in the wind along North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard. “We have also taken steps in relation to St Maarten, which is a French and Dutch territory. There are a lot of Brits on holiday there and we have sent UK consular representatives.”