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Both coasts threatened; landfall expected early Sunday
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 5 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. Troopers kept traffic inching forward in the other direction on jammed highways, even allowing vehicles to drive on the shoulders.
As of 11 p.m. ET Friday, Hurricane Irma had winds of 160 mph, elevating it back up to a Category 5 storm. The center was located about 300 miles south by southeast of Miami, moving to the west at 13 mph toward an expected landfall in South Florida early Sunday. Hurricane conditions are expected to begin there Saturday night.
The storm made landfall at the Camaguey Archipelago in Cuba late Friday.
The National Hurricane Center extended a hurricane warning northward for the state’s east coast up to Sebastian Inlet and along the west coast northward to Anna Maria Island, west of Bradenton.
“If you have been ordered to evacuate and are still at home, please go.” Florida Gov. Rick Scott
Current tracking shows 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 400-mile-wide storm is expected to straddle the 160mile-wide state as it moves north, bringing strong winds and storm surges to both coasts. The eye of Irma should be near the southern Florida peninsula by Sunday morning, the hurricane center said.
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, 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 possible devastating impact of storm surge across Miami-Dade, Mainland Monroe and Collier counties. Many buildings could be washed away, and damage in the area could be compounded by floating debris.
Evacuation orders for MiamiDade cover some 680,000 people, including all mobile-home residents and those living in the most threatened, low-lying areas, such as barrier islands. County officials worked to open more than 40 shelters with a total capacity of 100,000 — the largest logistical operation in their history.
In northeast Florida, the Jacksonville Sheriff ’s Office issued a mandatory evacuation order 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,” he added. “If you have been ordered to evacuate and are still at home, please go.”
Florida Power and Light said as many as 4.1 million customers — or 9 million people — are expected to suffer power outages.
Scott warned Irma could be stronger and larger than Hurricane Andrew, the Category 5 storm that in 1992 killed 65 people in Florida, destroyed more than 63,500 homes and caused $26.5 billion in damage.
In Washington, White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said residents who refused to get out of the path of the hurricane should provide themselves shelter and enough food and water for at least a 72-hour period until emergency responders can reach them.
“It’s not a tough-love message, it’s just a message of clarity and honesty,” Bossert said. By Friday morning, southeast Florida and portions of Miami proper resembled a ghost town, with boarded-up shops, empty houses and shelves picked clean at stores. Roads south of the city were clear and light traffic was moving at posted speed limits.
Bottled water appeared to be sold out across much of the area, and gas remained in tight supply. Many stations simply shut down, wrapping their pumps up with plastic to protect them from the impending storm.
Time was also running out for people hoping to catch flights out of the state.
Meanwhile, the extent of damage from Irma in the Caribbean remained unclear.
Waves as high as 20 feet had been expected in the Turks and Caicos. Communications went down as the storm slammed into the islands. The U.S. Consulate General in Curaçao said it thinks about 6,000 Americans are stranded on St. Martin.