Hurricane Irma strengthened and made landfall in Cuba as a Category 5 storm, as millions of Florida residents were ordered to evacuate after the storm killed 22 people in the eastern Caribbean and left destruction in its wake.

Irma struck Camaguey Archipelago on Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast packing 260km/h winds late on Friday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Category 5 is the NHC's most powerful designation.

Irma, one of the fiercest Atlantic storms in a century, was expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning, bringing massive damage from wind and flooding to the fourth-largest state by population.

The scenes along Cuba's coast were gradually coming to resemble horrors of other Caribbean islands over the last week as Irma barreled in for a direct hit at Ciego de Avila province around midnight.

READ MORE: Deaths and destruction as Hurricane Irma powers through

Choppy seas, grey skies, sheets of rain, bending palm trees, huge waves crashing over sea walls and downed power lines filled state-run television’s evening news cast.

Irma was forecast to bring dangerous storm surges of up to three metres on parts of Cuba's northern coast and the central and northwestern Bahamas.

Meteorologists warned that by Saturday morning, scenes of far greater devastation were sure to emerge as Irma worked her way along the northern coast westward through Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara provinces where it is forecast to turn northward toward Florida.

The area is home to pristine keys with more than 50 hotels and beaches.

Irma was about 485km southeast of Miami, the NHC said in its latest advisory.

With the storm barreling toward the United States, officials ordered an historic evacuation in Florida that has been made more difficult by clogged highways, gasoline shortages and the challenge of moving older people.

The United States has been hit by only three Category 5 storms since 1851, and Irma is far larger than the last one in 1992, Hurricane Andrew, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"We are running out of time. If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now. This is a catastrophic storm like our state has never seen," Governor Rick Scott told reporters, adding the effects would be felt from coast to coast in the state.

A total of 5.6 million people, or 25 percent of the state's population, were ordered to evacuate Florida, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

US President Donald Trump said in a videotaped statement that Irma was "a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential" and called on people to heed recommendations from government officials and law enforcement.

Irma was set to hit the United States two weeks after Hurricane Harvey, a powerful Category 4 storm, struck Texas, killing about 60 people and causing property damage estimated at up to $180bn in Texas and Louisiana.

Officials were preparing a massive response, the head of FEMA said.

About 9 million people in Florida may lose power, some for weeks, said Florida Power & Light Co, which serves almost half of the state's 20.6 million residents.

Amid the exodus, nearly one-third of all gas stations in Florida's metropolitan areas were out of gasoline, with scattered outages in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to Gasbuddy.com, a retail fuel price tracking service.

READ MORE: Irma heads to Florida, kills 22 across Caribbean

In Fort Lauderdale, most large grocery, hardware and supply stores were closed and do not plan to open until early next week, after the hurricane has passed.

A shelter in southwest Miami filled to capacity just hours after it opened its doors, with people there recalling Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the most destructive to ever hit the state.

Mandatory evacuations on Georgia's Atlantic coast and some of South Carolina's barrier islands were due to begin on Saturday. Virginia and Alabama were under states of emergency.

The governors of North and South Carolina warned residents to remain on guard even as the storm took a more westward track, saying their states still could experience severe weather, including heavy rain and flash flooding, early next week.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended slightly lower as investors braced for potential damage and massive insurance claims from Irma.

Many economists are predicting that third-quarter gross domestic product will take a hit due to the hurricanes.

As it roared in from the east, Irma ravaged small islands in the northeastern Caribbean, including Barbuda, St. Martin and the British and US Virgin Islands, flattening homes and hospitals and ripping down trees.

But even as they came to grips with the massive destruction, residents of the islands faced the threat of another major storm, Hurricane Jose.

Jose, expected to reach the northeastern Caribbean on Saturday, was an extremely dangerous storm nearing Category 5 status, with winds of up to 250km/h, the NHC said on Friday.</s>Hurricane Irma ploughed into Cuba's northern coast on Friday night (8 September), hitting the island with 160mph winds and heavy rain.

The Category 5 storm – the first to hit the island since 1924 – struck the Camaguey Archipelago after around a million people evacuated their homes.

It comes after the hurricane killed at least 21 people as it passed over the eastern Caribbean, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

As of early Saturday morning, the storm was still making its way across Cuba with the full extent of the damage unclear.

Choppy seas, grey skies, sheets of rain, bending palm trees, huge waves crashing over sea walls and downed power lines filled state-run television's evening news cast, Reuters reported.

"There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off and on, and the lights are out," Anaida Gonzalez, a retired nurse in the Camaguey province, told Reuters.

CNN reporter Patrick Oppmann, who has been live-tweeting about the storm while in Cuba, said the hurricane had given the island "holy hell".

"Water is half way up the 1st floor of house I am in. We should be fine, many others will not," he tweeted early Saturday morning.

With power out in many towns and villages on the island, Oppmann went on to describe watching in the pitch-black darkness as waves "roll down" a street he had walked along just a day before.

He added: "Irma is giving Cuba holy hell right now. Winds keep getting stronger."

Winds were so strong they even broke the country's meteorological equipment, he added.

Meteorologists warned that scenes of far greater devastation were likely to emerge as Irma worked her way along the northern coast westward.

It is then forecast to change direction and head north towards the US state of Florida, where a state of emergency has been called.

US authorities have ordered 5.6m people – more than 25% of Florida's population — to evacuate, with the storm set to hit the state on Sunday morning.

"This is as real as it gets. Nowhere in the Florida Keys will be safe. You still have time to evacuate," the US National Weather Service warned in a tweet.</s>HAVANA (Sputnik) — All Russian holidaymakers have been evacuated from northern Cuban islands before the arrival of the powerful hurricane, Irma, the spokeswoman for Russia’s Embassy in Havana said Friday.

"The Havanatur [travel agency] has informed us that all our tourists have been moved to safe places in Varadero," Nadezhda Sergieva said, adding Cuban authorities were in close contact with the mission.

The hurricane made landfall on Cuba’s Camaguey archipelago and is predicted to move near the northern coast of Cuba through Saturday before reaching the US state of Florida.</s>Hurricane Irma, after becoming a Category Five storm, made landfall at Cuba's Camaguey Archipelago (File)</s>As Hurricane Irma continued its devastating run in the Caribbean, Cuba evacuated dolphins held in a dolphinarium in the north of the country, where Irma made landfall Friday night.

The six dolphins were wrapped in wet towels to ensure healthy travel and put on helicopters that took the dolphins to the province of Cienfuegos, the Mirror reported.

As of Friday, they were put in a swimming pool — but they could be moved again if the hurricane’s effects make that necessary, officials said.

Dolphinarum manager Gonzalo Carrero Escobar said the pool offered the dolphins “similar conditions to their natural life.” But he added that, “If the weather situation does not allow us to keep them there, they will be displaced to the saltwater swimming pool of a hotel.”

Early Friday, waves as high as 23 feet were slamming into Cuba’s eastern towns, prompting flooding and power outages, the Miami Herald reported.

“Luckily we have only experienced rains, sea penetrations and some winds … but sincerely, nothing compared to what we were expecting,” a local radio station in Baracoa city wrote on Facebook, according to the Herald. 25,000 people reportedly evacuated from the city.

But just as Cubans thought they had escaped the devastation seen on other Caribbean islands, the full strength of Irma slammed the country again Friday evening, hitting Ciego de Avila province around midnight.

As it struck the country with 160 mph winds, on its way toward Florida, Irma was upgraded from Category 4 to Category 5 – the most powerful designation by the National Hurricane Center.

And Irma’s effects in Cuba reportedly began to look a lot like the devastation seen on other Caribbean islands over the last week.

The full extent of the damage in Cuba remained unclear early Saturday, but devastating scenes were expected to be revealed as the hurricane moved through popular tourist destinations along Cuba’s northern coast, with more than 50 hotels, Reuters reported.

Anaida Gonzalez, a retired nurse hunkered down in the central province of Camaguey, told Reuters that “There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off and on, and the lights are out.”

Irma is now on a path to hit Florida, potentially on Sunday. Florida officials asked around 5.6 million people to evacuate ahead of landfall to avoid a potential catastrophe.</s>[HAVANA] Hurricane Irma made landfall as a maximum-strength Category Five storm late Friday, US forecasters said, after leaving a trail of death and destruction on a string of Caribbean islands.

At 0300 GMT, the monster storm had made landfall on the communist island's Camaguey Archipelago, with the eye of the storm just 190 kilometres east-southeast of the Cuban city of Caibarien, and 300 miles south-southeast of Miami, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

It had maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometres per hour and was moving west at 20 kilometres per hour, also posing an increasing threat to the US state of Florida.</s>The Latest on Hurricane Irma (all times local):

The National Hurricane Center says the eye of Irma is moving over the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba as a Category 5 hurricane.

The center says Irma made landfall there late Friday and has maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (257 kph). The hurricane is about 275 miles (443 kilometers) from Miami and moving about 12 mph (19.3 kph) toward the west.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katia made landfall late Friday north of Tecolutla, Mexico and weakened to a tropical storm, with winds reaching 45 mph (72.4 kph).

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose is a Category 4 hurricane, about 240 miles (386 kilometers)east-southeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, moving roughly westward at 14 mph (23 kph)with winds reaching 150 mph.

A newly strengthened Irma is taking aim at south Florida with 160 mph (257 kph) winds after battering Cuba and leaving more than 20 dead across the Caribbean, as another hurricane follows close behind.

Irma regained Category 5 status late Friday. Thousands of people in the Caribbean fought desperately to find shelter or escape their storm-blasted islands, and more than 6 million people in Florida and Georgia were warned to leave their homes.

Many residents and tourists were left reeling after the storm ravaged some of the world's most exclusive tropical playgrounds, known for their turquoise waters and lush green vegetation. Among them: St. Martin, St. Barts, St. Thomas, Barbuda and Anguilla.

Irma threatened to push its way northward from one end of Florida to the other beginning Sunday morning.</s>MIAMI (CBSMiami) — The eye of Irma moving over Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba as Category 5 hurricane.

At 2 a.m., the Category 5 hurricane was about 275 miles south-southeast of Miami.

Irma is moving toward the west near 13 mph (20 km/h). A turn toward the northwest is expected by late Saturday. On the forecast track, the center of Irma will move near the north coast of Cuba through Saturday, near the Florida Keys Sunday morning, and then near the southwest coast of Florida Sunday afternoon.

Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 160 mph (260 km/h) with higher gusts. Irma is once again a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km).

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for…

 * Volusia/Brevard County Line southward around the Florida peninsula to Anclote River

 * Florida Keys

 * Tampa Bay

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for…

 * North of the Volusia/Brevard County Line to the Flagler/Volusia County line

 * North of Anclote River to Suwannee River

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for…

 * Volusia/Brevard County Line southward around the Florida peninsula to Anclote River

 * Florida Keys

 * Lake Okeechobee

 * Florida Bay

 * Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, and Matanzas

 * Central Bahamas and Ragged Island

 * Northwestern Bahamas

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for…

 * North of the Volusia/Brevard County Line to Fernandina Beach

 * North and west of Anclote River to Indian Pass

 * Cuban provinces of Holguin and Las Tunas

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for…

 * Cuban provinces of Holguin, Las Tunas, La Habana, and Ciudad de la Habana

STORM SURGE: The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water is expected to reach the following HEIGHTS ABOVE GROUND if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide…

SW Florida from Captiva to Cape Sable…8 to 12 ft Cape Sable to Boca Raton including the Florida Key…5 to 10 ft Venice to Captiva…5 to 8 ft Anclote River to Venice including Tampa Bay…3 to 5 ft Boca Raton to Flagler/Volusia County line…2 to 4 ft Anclote River to Suwannee River…3 to 6 ft

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast in areas of onshore winds, where the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances. For information specific to your area, please see products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

The combination of a life-threatening storm surge and large breaking waves will raise water levels ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS by the following amounts within the hurricane warning area near and to the north of the center of Irma. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.

Ragged Island in the Bahamas…15 to 20 ft Central and Northwestern Bahamas…3 to 6 ft Northern coast of Cuba in the warning area…5 to 10 ft

WIND: Hurricane conditions are still occurring over portions of the central Bahamas, as well as Ragged Island. Hurricane conditions are expected to continue within the hurricane warning area along the north coast of Cuba through Saturday. Hurricane conditions are expected in the northwestern Bahamas tonight and Saturday, and in portions of southern and central Florida and the Florida Keys Saturday night and Sunday.

Hurricane and tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area in central and north Florida by Sunday.

RAINFALL: Irma is expected to produce the following rain accumulations through Tuesday night:

Southern Bahamas and northern Cuba…10 to 15 inches, isolated 20 inches Southern Cuba…5 to 10 inches, isolated 15 inches

 Jamaica…1 to 2 inches

 The Florida Keys, much of the Florida peninsula, and southeast

 Georgia…8 to 15 inches, isolated 20 inches The Florida Panhandle…3 to 6 inches, isolated 8 inches Rest of Eastern Georgia, western South Carolina, and Western North

 Carolina…4 to 8 inches

 Western Georgia, eastern and northern Alabama, and southern

 Tennessee…2 to 5 inches

In all areas this rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods and, in some areas, mudslides.

TORNADOES: A few tornadoes are possible from Saturday midday into Sunday across central and south Florida.

SURF: Swells generated by Irma are affecting the southeastern Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, and should start affecting portions of the southeast coast of the United States tonight. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
• Click here for ways to prepare yourself for an impending storm from our Hurricane Preps page
• Click here for latest news surrounding hurricanes and the National Hurricane Center
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• Click here to download the CBS4 2017 Hurricane Guide (English)</s>After Trump's announcement, attorneys general in New York and California said they were prepared to seek legal action against his decision.

After Trump's announcement, attorneys general in New York and California said they were prepared to seek legal action against his decision.

Senate Republicans have almost doubled the size of President Donald Trump's emergency Harvey aid package, adding a first installment to help communities in Texas rebuild from the storm _ and stock reserves for looming damage from Hurricane Irma.

Senate Republicans have almost doubled the size of President Donald Trump's emergency Harvey aid package, adding a first installment to help communities in Texas rebuild from the storm _ and stock reserves for looming damage from Hurricane Irma.

Residents in parts of the Miami metro area are under mandatory orders to leave their homes as Hurricane Irma barrels toward South Florida with potentially catastrophic winds.

Residents in parts of the Miami metro area are under mandatory orders to leave their homes as Hurricane Irma barrels toward South Florida with potentially catastrophic winds.

The westward trend in forecast models and the official track of Irma have continued today. This leads to a very high confidence that Irma will make landfall in south Florida and then move northward through the Florida peninsula on Sunday and into Georgia on Monday.

The westward trend in forecast models and the official track of Irma have continued today. This leads to a very high confidence that Irma will make landfall in south Florida and then move northward through the Florida peninsula on Sunday and into Georgia on Monday.

Friday's 11 p.m. Irma forecast shows the storm once again becoming a Category 5. (Source: WMBF News)

Friday's 11 p.m. Irma forecast shows the storm once again becoming a Category 5. (Source: WMBF News)

The eye of Irma is moving over the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba as a Category 5 hurricane.

Maximum sustained winds remain 160 mph with higher gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center's 2 a.m. update.

Hurricane Warnings are now extended northward along the Florida Peninsula. Much of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast are now out of Irma's cone of uncertainty, but that track could still shift.

On the forecast track, the center of Irma will move near the north coast of Cuba today, near the Florida Keys Sunday morning, and then near the southwest coast of Florida Sunday afternoon.

Forecasters say the massive hurricane will remain a Category 5 storm when it slams into the Florida Keys.

Irma has left a trail of devastation and death in much of the Caribbean as it advanced toward South Florida.

"Nowhere in the Florida Keys will be safe," the National Weather Service tweeted.

Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center say the storm will begin to turn north on Saturday as it passes Cuba then head toward the Keys and cities on Florida's Gulf Coast.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for inland Palm Beach County from Saturday evening through Monday.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km). Camaguey, Cuba, recently reported a wind gust of 70 mph (113 km/h).The estimated minimum central pressure is 930 mb (24.46 inches).

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for:
• Volusia/Brevard County Line southward around the Florida peninsula to Anclote River

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for:
• North of the Volusia/Brevard County Line to the Flagler/Volusia County line

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for:
• Volusia/Brevard County Line southward around the Florida peninsula to Anclote River

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for:
• North of the Volusia/Brevard County Line to Fernandina Beach
• North and west of Anclote River to Indian Pass
• Cuban provinces of Holguin and Las Tunas A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...</s>MIAMI: After laying waste to several Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma was barreling Saturday (Sep 9) towards Florida, where some 5.6 million people faced orders to evacuate as the monster storm made landfall in Cuba.

Irma - which has killed at least 19 people and devastated thousands of homes in the Caribbean - made landfall late Friday on the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba as a maximum-strength Category 5 storm.

The hurricane weakened slightly to a Category 4 hours later, swirling some 395km away from Miami and packing still powerful maximum sustained winds of 249kmh, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

In Cuba officials reported "significant damage" in parts of the island's center without providing further details, but said there were not yet casualties.

More than a million people on the Caribbean's largest island have evacuated as a precaution, authorities said.

Irma is expected to strike the Florida Keys late Saturday and Sunday before moving inland, and many residents have joined a mass exodus amid increasingly dire alerts to leave.

"It's not too late to get off the Keys!!!" the agency said. "You still have time, this morning, to get out! Please, the Keys are not safe."

According to Florida's Division of Emergency Management some 5.6 million residents have been ordered to evacuate - nearly a quarter of the state population.

Warning that Irma would be worse than Hurricane Andrew - which killed 65 people in 1992 - Florida's governor said all 20.6 million Floridians should prepare to flee.

"If you're in an evacuation zone, you should be very cautious, you should get out now," Governor Rick Scott told CNN. "This is a powerful storm bigger than our state."

Bumper-to-bumper traffic was snaking north out of the peninsula, with mattresses, gas cans and kayaks strapped to car roofs.

North of the Keys, in Miami Beach, 82-year-old Cuban-American Orlando Reyes had suddenly to flee his assisted living facility.

"It is frightening," he told AFP at a shelter in Miami. "We had to leave without a cent, without taking a bath, or bringing anything."

The storm ravaged a series of tiny islands before slamming into the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

French state-owned reinsurer CCR estimated Irma had caused 1.2 billion euros (US$1.4 billion) worth of damage to homes, vehicles and businesses in the territories of Saint Martin and Saint Barts.

"Houses are smashed, the airport is out of action," Saint Barts resident Olivier Toussaint told AFP.

"Upside-down cars are in the cemeteries. Boats are sunk in the marina, shops are destroyed."

Meteorologists meanwhile were closely monitoring two other Atlantic storms.

Jose, another powerful Category 4 storm, was heading towards the same string of Caribbean islands Irma has pummeled in recent days.

Katia made landfall in eastern Mexico late Friday - just as the country was grappling with its worst earthquake in a century - as a Category 1 hurricane.

It was later downgraded to a tropical storm but was still bringing rains that could bring "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides."

Hurricane Jose was wreaking havoc with emergency operations in the Caribbean, as the deteriorating weather prevented boats from leaving with relief supplies and grounded aircraft.

Cuba had already evacuated 10,000 foreign tourists from beach resorts ahead of Irma's arrival.

The hurricane "seriously affects" the central provinces of Camaguey and Ciego de Avila, Cuban meteorologist Elier Pila said on state television.

But because of Irma's massive size, its effects were felt from central-west regions to the island's east, he said. Communications are down in many municipalities there.

The neighboring Bahamas escaped the hurricane's wrath mostly unscathed, with no reports of casualties or major damage.

In Florida, where forecasters warned of storm surges of up to 12 feet (nearly four meters), normally bustling Miami Beach was deserted.

"Nobody can be prepared for a storm surge. They can destroy everything," said David Wallack, a 67-year-old salsa club owner attempting to secure his property on the city's Ocean Drive.

"We just can pray for the best. You put what you can in a suitcase and hope."

The US military was mobilizing thousands of troops and deploying several large ships to aid with evacuations and humanitarian relief, as the Air Force removed scores of planes from the southern United States.

In the Caribbean, violent winds ripped roofs and facades off buildings, hurling lumps of concrete, cars and even shipping containers aside.

At least two people were killed in Puerto Rico, and more than half of its three million residents were without power after rivers broke their banks in the center and north of the island.

Another four people were killed on the US Virgin Islands, with a number of badly injured people airlifted to Puerto Rico.

One person died in tiny Barbuda, where 30 per cent of properties were demolished and the entire island has been evacuated.

France said at least 10 had been killed across its Caribbean territories with seven more missing. There were 112 people injured, two seriously.

On the Dutch side of Saint Martin island, two people died.

In northwest Haiti, a motorcyclist was missing after trying to cross a flooded river and a number of roads were washed out.

European nations quickly mobilized to help their citizens in the Caribbean, with France and the Netherlands ordering hundreds of police to Saint Martin - where most of the 80,000 inhabitants have lost their homes - to tackle an outbreak of looting amid major shortages of food, water and petrol.
Hurricane Irma regains category 5 strength just before it makes landfall on Cuba's Camaguey Archipelago.