Florida hit hard by Hurricane Irma.

Three dead and more than 2.5 million homes without power

Hurricane Irma continued its trail of destruction yesterday as it smashed mainland Florida, just south of Naples.

Irma was downgraded to a category three storm but made landfall on Marc Island off Florida’s west coast with winds of up to 120mph.

Amid warnings of storm water surges as high as 15ft (4.5m), more than 2.5 million homes in the state are without power, and parts of Miami are under water, including most of the city’s financial district. Three deaths were reported, one in Monroe County and two in Hardee County.

After Irma devastated parts of the Caribbean, killing at least 27 people, 6.3 million people in Florida were told to evacuate as it made its way to the United States.

Describing the hurricane as a “big monster”, President Donald Trump praised the federal agencies involved with the storm and said he would go to Florida “very soon”.

The storm hit Marco Island at 3.35pm local time (7.35pm GMT).

Irma was last night heading for the Tampa Bay area, with a population of about three million. It has not been hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

The storm had earlier barrelled through the Florida Keys, a chain of low-lying islands to the south.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has pledged to be there “in the long term” for British people whose Caribbean homes were ripped apart by Hurricane Irma.

Brushing aside critics, the foreign secretary said there had been an “unprecedented” relief effort from the UK and that he had “no doubt” Britain would meet the challenges ahead.

Irma has claimed at least 24 lives, including five in the British Virgin Islands and one each on Anguilla and Barbuda, and left thousands of people homeless when it smashed into the region on Wednesday.

Mr Johnson said, in addition to the £32 million already set aside following the disaster, the Government would be matching public donations to the Red Cross appeal.

Returning from the latest in a series of emergency Cobra meetings, chaired by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, he said: “This is just the beginning.

“A terrible thing has happened to British overseas territories.

“These are British people and we are here for the long term and we will come through with a recovery plan working with our partners in the region.

“We will come through with a recovery plan for those islands and make sure they get back on their feet again.”

Picture: Getty. A car sits abandoned in a storm surge along North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard as Hurricane Irma hits the southern part of Florida.