HURRICANE IRMA PUMMELS FLORIDA
Millions in path of 400-mile-wide storm ordered to evacuate.
— A monster Hurricane MIAMI Irma roared into Florida with 130 mph winds Sunday and launched a sustained assault on nearly the entire Sunshine State, submerging streets, knocking out power to millions and snapping massive construction cranes over the Miami skyline.
The 400-mile-wide storm blew ashore in the morning in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys and then began a slow march up the state’s west coast. Forecasters said they expect it to hit the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area early today.
“Pray, pray for everybody
in Florida,” Gov. Rick Scott said on “Fox News Sunday” as more than 160,000 people statewide sought refuge in shelters.
Irma struck as a Category 4 hurricane but by late afternoon had weakened to a still-powerful Category 2 with 110 mph sustained winds that whipped Florida’s palm trees with drenching squalls. A storm surge of over 10 feet was recorded in the Keys,
and forecasters warned some places on the mainland could get up to 15 feet of water.
There were no immediate confirmed reports of any deaths in Florida from Irma, which killed 24 people during its destructive trek across the Caribbean.
Many streets were flooded in downtown Miami and other cities. In the low-ly- ing Keys, boats were reported sunk and appliances and furniture were seen float
ing away, but the full extent of Irma’s fury there was not clear.
A M iami woman who went into labor was guided through delivery by phone when authorities couldn’t reach her in high winds and street flooding. Firefighters later took her to the hospital.
An apparent tornado spun off by Irma destroyed six
mobile homes in Palm Bay, hundreds of miles away along the state’s Atlantic coast. Flooding was reported along
Interstate 4, which cuts across Florida’s midsection.
In downtown Miami, two of the two dozen construc
tion cranes looming over the skyline collapsed in the wind. No injuries were reported.
Curfews were imposed in Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and much of the rest of South Florida, and some arrests of violators were reported. Miami Beach barred outsiders from the island. Fort Lauderdale police
arrested nine people they said were caught on TV cameras looting sneakers and
other items from a sporting goods store and a pawn shop during the hurricane.
More than 2.7 million homes and businesses across the state lost power, and util- ity officials said it will take weeks to restore electricity to everyone.
While the projected track showed Irma raking the state’s Gulf Coast, forecast
ers warned that the entire state — including the Miami metropolitan area of 6 million people — was in danger because of the sheer size of the storm.
Nearly 7 million people in the Southeast were warned to evacuate, including 6.4 million in Florida alone.
About 30,000 peo p le heeded orders to leave the Keys as the storm closed in, but an untold number refused, in part because to many storm-hardened res
idents, staying behind in the face of danger is a point of pride.
John Huston, who remained in his Key Largo home, watched his yard flood even before the arrival of high tide. “Small boats floating down the street next to furniture and refrigerators. Very noisy,” he reported by text message. “Shingles are coming off.”
Irma made landfall just after 9 a.m. at Cudjoe Key, about 20 miles outside Key West, forecasters said. During
the afternoon, it rounded Florida’s southwestern cor
ner and hugged the coast closely as it pushed toward Naples, Sanibel, Fort Myers and, beyond that, Sarasota.
Hurricane-force winds extended 80 miles from its center.
Meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherBell Analytics said the entire Florida pen- insula was being raked by Irma’s right front quadrant — the part of a hurricane that usually brings the strongest winds, storm surge, rain and tornadoes.
The Tampa-St. Peters- burg area, with a population of about 3 million, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane since 1921. The wind began picking up in St. Petersburg, some 400 miles north of the Keys, and people started bracing for the onslaught.
“I’ve been here with other storms, other hurricanes. But this one scares me,” Sally Carlson said as she snapped photos of the waves crashing against boats. “Let’s just say a prayer we hope we make it through.” Forecasters said a weak-
ened Irma could push into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and beyond. A tropical storm warning was issued for the first time ever in Atlanta, some 200 miles from the sea.
“Once this system passes through, it’s going to be a race to save lives and sustain lives,” Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long said on “Fox News Sunday.” With FEMA still dealing
with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Irma could test the agency’s ability to handle two disas- ters at the same time.