Irma poses a threat to both coasts of Florida
Hurricane could unleash deadly winds, storm surge
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - As deadly Hurricane Irma raced toward a devastating dash up Florida’s spine, state officials scrambled to provide fuel for hundreds of thousands of residents trying to flee northward or to local shelters before the Category 4 storm’s first effects hit the peninsula late Saturday.
“This is a catastrophic storm the state has never seen before,” Gov. Rick Scott said as he made another plea for residents to heed evacuation warnings.
Scott said state police would escort
fuel trucks throughout the night to bolster rapidly dwindling supplies of gasoline. “They are going to keep going as long as they can go,” he said. Other troopers kept traffic inching forward in the other direction on jammed highways, even allowing vehicles to drive on the shoulders.
As of 2 p.m. EDT, Hurricane Irma had winds of 155 mph, making it a strong Category 4 storm. The center was about 380 miles southeast of Miami, moving to the west at 14 mph toward an expected Florida landfall early Sunday. Hurricane conditions are expected over South Florida beginning Saturday night.
The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for most of South Florida, all the way from Jupiter Inlet on the Atlantic side around the Florida peninsula to Bonita Beach on the Gulf coast. The warning also includes the Florida Keys and Lake Okeechobee.
As of Friday afternoon, tracking showed the storm’s eye splitting Florida as it roars up the central corridor just west of the Miami metropolitan area, with a population of 6 million. The 400mile-wide storm is expected to straddle the 160-mile-wide state as it moves north, bringing strong winds and storm surge to both coasts.
The storm has killed at least 20 people since roaring out of the open Atlantic and chewing through a string of Caribbean islands. Four deaths were reported in the British Virgin Islands, nine on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts, four in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and one each on the islands of Anguilla, Barbuda and the Dutch side of St. Martin.
In Florida, the National Weather Service said life-threatening winds from Irma could severely damage sturdy buildings, completely destroy mobile homes and cause widespread damage from large airborne projectiles.
“Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months,” the weather service said.
It also warned of the possibly devastating impact of storm surge across Miami-Dade, Monroe and Collier counties. Many buildings could be washed away, and damage in the area could be compounded by floating debris.
Evacuation orders for Miami-Dade cover some 680,000 people. County officials said they were working to open more than 40 shelters with a total capacity of 100,000 — the largest logistical operation in their history.
Up the coast, in northeast Florida, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office issued a mandatory evacuation for key coastal and low-lying areas and for mobile homes.
Scott ordered all public schools, colleges and universities closed through Monday. The governor told residents not to become complacent.
“Irma is wider than our entire state and is expected to cause major and life-threatening impacts from coast to coast,” he said. “Do not put yourself or your families at risk. If you have been ordered to evacuate and are still at home, please go.”
Time was running out for people hoping to catch flights out of the state, as many airlines at Miami-International Airport planned to shut down by midafternoon. The airport tweeted Friday that all its garages were full and warned passengers to find alternate transportation the facility.