Irma ravages Florida
Kicker Giorgio Tavecchio surprising hero in Raiders’ opening 26-16 victory over Titans Downgrade to Category 2 doesn’t lessen its lethality
Extremely dangerous Hurricane Irma first crashed into the Florida Keys on Sunday morning and then made a second landfall on Marco Island, on Florida’s west coast, Sunday afternoon, unleashing violent wind gusts up to 142 mph and storm-surge flooding.
The storm was plowing up Florida’s west coast Sunday night, and forecasters fear that once it’s over, it will go down as one of the worst in the state’s history.
At 11 p.m., the storm was centered 50 miles southeast of Tampa. Its eyewall, containing the storm’s most violent winds, had passed northeast of Sarasota. The storm center was plowing north at 14 mph into the area between Tampa and Orlando. Through around 2 a.m. Monday, wind gusts of 75 to 100 mph were possible in both cities, where winds had already gusted that high.
Hurricane-force wind gusts were also quite possible on the east coast of central Florida into early Monday, the Hurricane Center said, thanks to Irma’s large wind field.
Around Tampa, once the storm center passes early Monday morning, a storm surge is possible of several feet above normally dry land, potentially inundating low-lying coastal areas.
Irma’s peak winds of 100 mph, with higher gusts, had dropped 30 mph from the morning, making it
IRMA ▶ Page 6A ▶ Page 12A
a Category 2 hurricane (down from a Category 4). Even with slow weakening likely to continue as the storm passes over land, Irma remains very serious and life-threatening. The National Hurricane Center said it is expected to remain a hurricane through Monday morning.
Coastal waters could rise well above normally dry land along Florida’s central Gulf Coast, inundating homes, businesses and roads.
Because of the storm’s magnitude, the entire state of Florida is being severely affected by damaging winds, torrential rains and, in many areas, the risk of tornadoes. Tropical storm and hurricane conditions were also predicted to spread into the Florida panhandle, eastern Alabama, much of Georgia and southern South Carolina by Monday.
Even on Central Florida’s east coast, tropical-storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts were fairly widespread Sunday evening. At St. Lucie, a gust reached 99 mph, and at Cape Canaveral, winds gusted to 79 mph.
The worst winds had passed this region just prior to 9:30 p.m., but gusty showers continued on the storm’s backside.
Irma’s eyewall passed through Fort Myers and Cape Coral just before 7 p.m., producing wind gusts of 88 and 101 mph and then passed on the west side of Port Charlotte between 8 and 9 p.m.
As the eyewall moved over Naples late Sunday afternoon, it reported sustained winds of 93 mph and a gust to 142 mph, the strongest recorded from this storm in the U.S.
Josh Morgerman, a hurricane chaser positioned in Naples, described the scene: “Went thru violent, destructive winds. Screaming, whiteout, wreckage blowing by in fog.” Then the calm eye moved overhead.
Before the arrival of the storm center, water was actually retreating from Naples to Tampa because of offshore winds from the east pulling the sea back. But forecasters warned residents that shortly after the storm’s center passed to the north and winds blew back onshore, waters would rush back in rapidly, causing severe inundation.
In Naples, as of 7 p.m., water levels were about 4 feet above normally dry land, but the level was starting to stabilize around 8 p.m. Amazingly, it set its second-lowest water level and highest water level all in the course of eight hours.
In Fort Myers, waters levels were rising through 10 p.m., but not as dramatically as they had in Naples.
In southeast Florida, spiral bands continued to unleash tropical-storm-force winds. Even into the evening, winds were gusting up to 60 to 75 mph around Miami and West Palm Beach, but they weren’t as strong as earlier.
In the afternoon, sustained winds in Miami and Fort Lauderdale reached 50-60 mph through the early afternoon, gusting as high as 80-100 mph. Miami International Airport clocked a gust at 94 mph, and an isolated gust hit 100 mph at the University of Miami.
In downtown Miami, two of the two dozen construction cranes looming over the skyline collapsed in the wind. A third crane was reported down in Fort Lauderdale. No injuries were reported.
A Miami woman who went into labor was guided through delivery by phone when authorities couldn’t reach her because of 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, midway up the Atlantic coast. Flooding was reported along Interstate 4, which cuts across Florida’s midsection.
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.
Also during the afternoon, the seas had risen several feet above normally dry land. Social media photos and videos showed water pouring through Miami’s streets, in between high-rises, amid sideways sheets of rain.
Late Sunday afternoon, waters were finally starting to slowly recede around Miami.
While the core of the storm and the worst winds passed the Keys early Sunday morning, the Weather Service warned that storm surge flooding was ongoing as winds on the storm’s backside shoved water over the islands. Gusts still reached 50 to 60 mph as of 7:45 p.m.
Early Sunday afternoon, the maximum surge at Cudjoe Key was estimated at 10 feet.
About 3 million customers were without power.
Particularly in the south and central parts of the state, torrential rain was falling, with widespread totals of 6 to 10 inches and pockets up to 10 to 14 inches. Numerous flash flood warnings had been issued.
Hurricane warnings cover all of Florida except the western panhandle, where a tropical storm warning was in effect.
A storm-surge warning was also issued for much of the Florida peninsula (except for a small section from North Miami Beach to Jupiter Inlet) and even extended up the Georgia coast into southern South Carolina. The Hurricane Center said that this would bring the risk of “dangerous” and “life-threatening” inundation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.