ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Irma began its assault on Florida early Sunday with the storm’s northern eyewall reaching the lower Florida Keys as a powerful Category 4 storm.

Irma lashed the area with maximum sustained winds near 130 mph (215 kph) and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was expected to remain a powerful storm as it moved through the Florida Keys and near the state’s west coast.

As of 7 a.m. EDT Sunday, the hurricane was centered about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south-southeast of Key West, Florida, and was moving northwest at 8 mph (13 kph). The Key West International Airport measured sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) with a gust of up to 70 mph (113 kph), according to the hurricane center.

Tens of thousands of people huddling in shelters watched for updates as the storm swung to the west, now potentially sparing Tampa as well Miami the catastrophic head-on blow forecasters had been warning about for days.

In the Tampa Bay area, access to all of Pinellas County’s barrier islands, including the popular spring break destination of Clearwater Beach, was shut off.

The leading edge of the immense storm bent palm trees and spit rain across South Florida, knocking out power to more than 430,000 homes and businesses, as the eye approached Key West.

As the hurricane’s eye approached the Florida Keys early Sunday, 60-year-old Carol Walterson Stroud and her family were huddled in a third floor apartment at a senior center in Key West.

“We are good so far,” she said in a text message just before 5:30 a.m. “It’s blowing hard.”

Stroud was with her husband, Tim Stroud, and granddaughter, Sierra Costello. Their dog Rocky was also riding out the storm.

Stroud said she planned to step outside once the eye of the hurricane passed over. She said she has stood in the eye of a hurricane before and it’s “total peace and quiet.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott had warned residents in the state’s evacuation zones Saturday that “this is your last chance to make a good decision.” About 6.4 million people were told to flee.

But because the storm is 350 to 400 miles wide, the entire Florida peninsula was exposed. Forecasters said the greater Miami area of 6 million people could still get life-threatening hurricane winds and storm surge of 4 to 6 feet.

Irma was at one time the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the open Atlantic with a peak wind speed of 185 mph (300 kph) last week. It left more than 20 people dead across the Caribbean and as it moved north over the Gulf of Mexico’s bathtub-warm water of nearly 90 degrees, it was expected to regain strength.

Meteorologists predicted Irma would plow into the Tampa Bay area Monday morning. The area has not been struck by a major hurricane since 1921, when its population was about 10,000, National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said. Now around 3 million people live there.

The latest course also still threatens Naples’ mansion- and yacht-lined canals, Sun City Center’s retirement homes, and Sanibel Island’s shell-filled beaches.

Irma’s course change caught many off guard and triggered a major round of last-minute evacuations in the Tampa area. Many businesses had yet to protect windows with plywood or hurricane shutters. Some locals grumbled about the forecast, even though Florida’s west coast had long been included in the zone of probability.

“For five days, we were told it was going to be on the east coast, and then 24 hours before it hits, we’re now told it’s coming up the west coast,” said Jeff Beerbohm, a 52-year-old entrepreneur in St. Petersburg. “As usual, the weatherman, I don’t know why they’re paid.”

Nearly the entire Florida coastline remained under hurricane watches and warnings, and the latest projections could shift again, sparing or savaging other parts of the state.

Forecasters warned of storm surge as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters).

“This is going to sneak up on people,” said Jamie Rhome, head of the hurricane center’s storm surge unit.

The westward shift prompted Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, to order 260,000 people to leave, while Georgia scaled back evacuation orders for some coastal residents. Motorists heading inland from the Tampa area were allowed to drive on the shoulders.

At Germain Arena not far from Fort Myers, on Florida’s southwestern corner, thousands waited in a snaking line for hours to gain a spot in the hockey venue-turned-shelter.

“We’ll never get in,” Jamilla Bartley lamented in the parking lot.

The governor activated all 7,000 members of the Florida National Guard, and 30,000 guardsmen from elsewhere were on standby.

In the Orlando area, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World all were closing Saturday. The Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando airports shut down.

Given its mammoth size and strength and its course up the peninsula, it could prove one of the most devastating hurricanes ever to hit Florida, and inflict damage on a scale not seen here in 25 years.

Hurricane Andrew smashed into suburban Miami in 1992 with winds topping 165 mph (265 kph), damaging or blowing apart over 125,000 homes. The damage in Florida totaled $26 billion, and at least 40 people died.</s>ABC News(TAMPA, Fla.) — Hurricane Irma cut a swath of destruction through the Caribbean before moving slowly northwest toward Florida’s west coast, where it is expected to make landfall Sunday.

The eye of the hurricane is expected move over the Florida Keys at around 5 or 6 a.m., bringing winds up to 115 mph.

The storm is then expected to make landfall near Naples, Florida, by Sunday evening.

Heavy rain and strong winds and big storm surges as far north as Tampa are expected throughout Sunday. By Monday morning, the hurricane is expected to weaken as it moves over northern Florida.

The storm hit Cuba overnight Friday as a Category 5 hurricane. By midday Saturday it had weakened slightly to a Category 3, but still with powerful winds of 125 mph.

It is a huge hurricane, with satellite images on Saturday showing Irma’s outer bands stretching from Cuba all the way across the bottom half of Florida out to the Atlantic.

Irma is expected to bring destructive storm surges up to 15 feet high to southwest Florida.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned Saturday of the dangers from what he called a “deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge.”

After hitting Cuba, the hurricane slowed. Throughout much of Saturday, it hugged the north of Cuba as it slowly turned north-by-northwest toward Florida’s west coast.

Two other images show how air traffic over south Florida has come to a standstill.

The first flight radar image shows the absence of virtually any flights over the southern part of the state Saturday. The second image shows how busy the same skies were a week before, on Sat., Sept. 9.</s>Since Hurricane Irma is moving along Florida’s west coast, the storm has been compared to Hurricane Charley. In August 2004, Charley slammed into the southwest coast, making landfall near Port Charlotte in Charlotte County. It then crossed over Central Florida.

Charley was directly responsible for 15 deaths and indirectly responsible for another 20 deaths. It caused an estimated $16.3 billion in damage in the U.S. and the Caribbean. However, Tampa Bay avoided a direct hit from the hurricane. In fact, Tampa hasn’t faced a direct hit from a hurricane since the October 1921 hurricane.

With Hurricane Irma moving up Florida’s west coast, here’s a look back at Charley.

1. Charley Was the Strongest Hurricane to Hit the U.S. Since Hurricane Andrew

Since Hurricane Irma spent much of its time in the Caribbean as a Category 5 hurricane, there was fear that it could be the first Category 5 to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. But Charley is a more recent example of a strong storm making a direct hit to Florida.

As WESH noted in 2014, Charley was the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. since Andrew. Charley made landfall near Port Charlotte on August 13, first striking St. Vincent Island, Cayo Costa and Punta Gorda. At the time of landfall, its maximum sustained winds were between 145 mph and 150 mph.

By the time the storm reached Orlando, winds were at 105 mph. An elementary school in Winter Park completely lost its roof, while planes at the Orlando Executive Airport were damaged or even destroyed.

2. Charley Took a Sudden Turn That Saved Tampa, But Left Punta Gorda Leveled

Less than 12 hours before making landfall, Charley took a sudden turn that saved Tampa from a direct hit. However, that meant Punta Gorda and Port Charlette nearly destroyed.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s sickening,” WESH 2’s Dave McDaniel said in 2014. “Charley played no favorites. Charley was not a friend as he rolled through Punta Gorda.”

In a Tampa Bay Times report at the time, then-Governor Jeb Bush described Punta Gorda as “ground zero,” adding that “Our worst fears came true.” Over 1.1 million people were without power.

The storm’s last-minute path change also made an impact on Eastern Polk County, catching residents surprised. “The power was out for days and people didn’t know what to do,” resident Tom Walkup told WFLA on September 5. “They didn’t like the idea of eating food out of cans.”

“I couldn’t go home to Orlando International for like, three days. Our home we built in 1975, had about $90,000 in damage and we put another 50 into repairing it,” resident Ron Jakeway told WFLA. As a result, residents of Polk County made sure they were prepared and evacuation orders were posted days before Irma reached Florida.

3. The Hurricane Caused $6.755 Billion in Damage in Florida Alone

According to the National Hurricane Center’s report on Charley, the storm was directly responsible for 10 deaths in the U.S., including the deaths of a husband and wife in a Port Charlotte mobile home and two men who were struck by flying debris. The storm also caused four deaths in Cuba and one in Jamaica.

The Property Claims Service reported that Charley caused $6.755 billion in uninsured damages in Florida alone. It also caused an estimated $25 million in damage to North Carolina and $20 million in South Carolina.

“Using a two to one ratio of total damages to these two insured damage amounts, a rough preliminary estimate of the total damage is 14 billion dollars” in the U.S., the NHC noted.

At the time, this made Charley the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Today, it is considered the ninth costliest, following more recent devastating storms like Katrina, Ike and last month’s Hurricane Harvey.

4. Charley Also Had a Major Impact on the Citrus Crop

Florida also took an economic hit from Charley. As the second-largest producer of oranges in the world, officials instantly recognized that farmers would lose millions of dollars.

“We think the damage is going to be in the hundreds of millions,” Charles H. Bronson, the Florida commissioner of agriculture, told the New York Times after the storm hit. “It could be a billion or more — we just don’t know yet.”

Dan Richey, then-CEO of River Fruit Packing, told the Times that Charley riped right through a 25 to 50-mile stretch of Florida’s citrus belt.

According to a 2005 study at UFL, “the organge crop was redusced by 31 percent” compared to the 2003-04 season thanks to Charley. The grapefruit crop dropped by 68 percent.

At the time, citrus was a $9 billion industry for Florida, NBC News reported. Recently though, the industry’s impact on Florida’s economy has decreased. The Herald Tribune reported in May 2017 that the industry’s contribution to the economy has dropped 31 percent over the past four citrus seasons. Still, it contributes $8.6 billion, which is no small change.

5. It Was 1 of 3 Deadly Hurricanes to Hit Florida During the 2004 Hurricane Season

Charley was just the start of a devastating 2004 hurricane season. As WESH notes, Charley was followed by Hurricane Frances three weeks later, causing $9.8 billion in total damage. Hurricane Jeanne came later in September.

Frances killed five people in Florida and dumped 15 inches of rain in Central Florida. The Kennedy Space Center in Volusia County was hit hard, with the vehicle assembly building torn open. Disney World was even closed for the first time since 1999’s Hurricane Floyd.

Disney closed days later when Jeanne hit. That storm, which killed over 3,000 people in Haiti as a tropical storm, led to $7 billion in total damage.

Charley, Frances and Jeanne are now on the list of retired Atlantic hurricane names. Other names that will never be used again include Katrina, Iris, Juan, Ivan, Wilma, Gustav, Sandy, Ike, Matthew and Otto.</s>Hurricane Irma's latest path is forecast to cut right up the Florida peninsula.

The National Hurricane Center’s forecast path for Irma has it hitting South Florida, including Miami and perhaps its highly developed and expensive central region, then up through affluent Broward and Palm Beach counties and farther north, threatening the entire peninsula.

The map can show shelters, road closures and where to get gas.

Google said in a statement: “Our thoughts are with those affected by Hurricane Irma. To provide access to accurate and useful transportation information, we use algorithmic and manual methods to account for everyday and emergency road closures. We're working directly with Florida officials to help provide up-to-date information to those affected by the storm. These road closures will also appear on our Irma Crisis Map, embedded as part of our SOS Alert on Search.”

Such a path through Florida is unusual, as many hurricanes approach the state at an angle. The two devastating Category 5 hurricanes that hit Florida — Andrew and the 1935 Florida Keys/Labor Day hurricane — both only went through part of the state.

"This is a catastrophic storm the state has never seen before," Gov. Rick Scott said in making regular pleas for people to heed evacuation warnings.

More: Hurricane Irma's latest track puts arrival in Middle Tennessee by next Wednesday

Scott said state police were escorting 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 were keeping traffic inching forward in the other direction on jammed highways, even allowing vehicles to drive on the highway shoulders.

Doyle Rice of USA Today contributed to this report.</s>Hurricane Irma, the strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever has killed at least 22 people as it devastated much of the Caribbean, has reached landfall in the Florida for the first time.

Florida residents have already been pummelled with brutal wind and rainfall, but are now expecting worse as they brace themselves for the full force of Hurricane Irma.

Floridians, hoping to offer the world Hurricane Irma damage updates, have taken to Twitter as power lines and trees have been downed by the devastating weather.

One video shot by a Miami Herald journalist shows the moment her neighbourhood loses power over Irma damages as an electricity transformer.</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.

IRMA UPDATE: Closing in on southwest Florida tomorrow morning, fringe effects and coastal impacts expected in Carolinas

IRMA UPDATE: Closing in on southwest Florida tomorrow morning, fringe effects and coastal impacts expected in Carolinas

At 10 p.m. Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said Category 3 Hurricane Irma's winds slowed slightly to 120 mph.

Heavy squalls with embedded tornadoes are sweeping across South Florida as the eye of Irma moves away from Cuba and closer to Florida.

The National Weather Service in Miami said Saturday evening that a tornado had touched the ground in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Oakland Park. It wasn't immediately clear how much damaged was caused.

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is urging Floridians to be "patient" and not quickly rush back to their homes once Irma passes. He says the massive storm is likely to cause widespread damage and that people should stay away until they are told by local officials that they can return

The center of Hurricane Irma has now cleared the Cuban coast and entered the Florida Straits, where bathtub-warm water of nearly 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) will enable the storm to intensify.

National Hurricane Center spokesman and meteorologist Dennis Feltgen says Irma is already showing signs at high altitudes of regaining its previous powerhouse strength and becoming better organized as it reaches Florida.

And because this storm is more than 350 miles (563 kilometers) wide, the Miami area is NOT in the clear just because Irma's eye is shifting to the west.

The forecasts even have Irma maintaining hurricane strength well into Georgia on Monday.

Wind gusts near hurricane force are currently hitting the Florida Keys. Major hurricane force winds are expected there at daybreak.

The track has the eye over Fort Myers Sunday at 8 p.m. and Tampa around 6 a.m. Monday.

The WPTV-viewing area is completely out of the cone. However, winds on Sunday could still approach 70 mph to 80 mph with 10 to 15 inches of rain by Monday.

The hurricane is moving about 7 mph toward the northwest.</s>For complete coverage of Hurricane Irma go to naplesnews.com/hurricane.

Hurricane Irma was downgraded to a Category 3 storm Saturday, as its eye inched closer to South Florida. It's still expected to hit the state as a Category 4 on Sunday.

The storm has killed at least 20 people since roaring out of the open Atlantic and chewing through a string of Caribbean islands. Governors of four Southeast states have declared states of emergency ahead Irma's arrival on the U.S mainland.

Here is what we know:

Where is Hurricane Irma now?

As of 11 a.m. ET, Irma was located 175 miles southeast of Key West and moving to the west at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. Irma is forecast to regain strength and approach the coast of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 140 mph.

The storm is forecast to hit the Sunshine State early Sunday. The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for both coasts of the peninsula up through central parts of the state.

The worst of Hurricane Irma is now forecast along the west coast of Florida after its track shifted overnight. Irma will act like a giant buzzsaw as it plows up the state's west coast into Monday, battering cities such as Key West, Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, and the Tampa-St. Pete area with hurricane-force winds, torrential rain, and devastating storm-surge inundation. “This will be the worst single hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992,” said meteorologist Joel N. Myers, head of AccuWeather.

When was the last time a hurricane hit Tampa?

The most recent major (Category 3 or above) hurricane to directly hit the Tampa Bay area was on Oct. 25, 1921. That storm came ashore in Tarpon Springs, Fla., just north of the Tampa area, with winds estimated at 120 mph. A storm surge estimated at 11 feet flooded much of the city. Six people were killed in the Tampa-St.Petersburg area, and damage was estimated at $2 million (in 1921 dollars.) A similar impact today would be a far different story, as the metro area’s population has soared in the past 100 years, from around 50,000 in 1920 to 3 million people. The 1921 hurricane was the most destructive hurricane to hit the Tampa area since 1848, the weather service said.

How strong will Irma be at landfall?

If the storm hits at Category 4 strength, as predicted, the ferocious 130 mph winds in Irma's eye wall will produce "catastrophic damage." Locations where a Category 4 eye wall hits will see "power outages that will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months," the hurricane center said.

How bad will storm surge be?

Storm surge, the wall of sea water that roars ashore as a hurricane makes landfall, inundating coastal areas, will be "dangerous" and "life-threatening" for people who didn't evacuate. Some areas could see up to 15 feet of sea water pushed ashore from Irma, the hurricane center said. Storm-surge warnings have been hoisted all the way from the Keys to north of Tampa.

What about rain, wind and tornadoes?

Irma will bring all these into play as well as it delivers a savage blow to nearly the entire state of Florida. Fierce winds could also rip some buildings to shreds across the state. Wind gusts approaching 160 mph are possible in some areas. While colossal flooding seen during Harvey may not be the primary threat from Irma, some parts of Florida could see as much as 20 inches of rain. In addition, a few brief tornadoes are possible across portions of the Florida Peninsula and coastal Georgia and South Carolina Sunday as Hurricane Irma impacts the region.

How many people are evacuating?

Officials warned more than 6.3 million people in Florida and Georgia to leave their homes in the remaining hours before the first major effects of the storm hit late in the day. Authorities are particularly worried about residents on the Florida Keys, where storm surge and high winds pose a particular risk to the string of low-lying sandbar islands tailing off the state's southern tip. By Saturday afternoon, the last evacuees trickled out of the Keys as businesses began shuttering ahead of the storm.

How many people could lose power?

About 25,000 people had already lost power Saturday morning in Florida as dangerous winds began lashing southern parts of the state. Florida Power & Light officials said as many as 9 million customers could lose power as Hurricane Irma roars ashore. The company provides electricity to 10 million people across nearly half the state.

How many flights have been canceled?

Hurricane Irma’s impact on U.S. flights continued to grow Saturday as the monster storm tracked toward Florida. Since Friday, More than 5,000 flights to or from Florida have now been canceled through Monday because of Irma. At least 10 airports in Florida had suspended flights or announced their intention to do so by Saturday evening. At several others, flights were not technically suspended, though most carriers were winding down their schedules ahead of Irma. Airports in Florida’s Panhandle were less affected as of early Saturday.

Already battered and reeling from Hurricane Irma, isolated Caribbean islands lacking infrastructure, communications, medical supplies and other essentials prepared to weather another potent hurricane Saturday as Jose bore down on the region. Jose was headed toward the northern Leeward Islands, which include Antigua and Barbuda, St. Martin and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, with sustained winds of 150 mph — a Category 4 storm. Irma already left a trail of flooded streets, toppled buildings, uprooted trees, upside-down boats and cars, and residents and visitors scrambling to secure shelter, food and clean water. Many people were looking for ways off the islands.

How could the storm impact Florida's economy?

Hurricane Irma is expected to pose at least a temporary setback to Florida's sizzling economy as it takes aim at the heart of the nation’s citrus production and batters its robust tourism industry. But if the storm causes extensive damage that discourages incoming retirees and tempers runaway population growth, the economic effects could be more substantial, analysts say.

Florida is the nation’s top citrus producer and also leads in sugarcane, tomatoes, watermelons and fresh market cucumbers, according to state government data. Farmers are trying to drain fields of excess water, secure equipment and ensure water pumps work in the event of flooding, says Lisa Lochridge, spokeswoman for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. The most immediate worry is the vast orange crop in central and south Florida. Risks to the crop have increased since forecasts altered the storm’s projected path westward, says Chris Hyde, agricultural meteorologist at MDA Weather Services.

Contributing: Doyle Rice, Bart Jansen, Alan Gomez, Gregory Korte, Caryn Shaffer, Joseph Bauccum and The Associated Press</s>LAKEHURST - Days after team members returned from rescue work in Texas, New Jersey Task Force One is heading back south, this time to Florida.

The state Office of Emergency Management announced Friday that it is sending rescuers to Eglin Air Force Base in Okaloosa County, Florida, as Hurricane Irma crawls toward the Sunshine State.

As of Friday morning the storm had already left at least 11 people dead and was battering the Turks and Caicos Islands. The National Hurricane Center said the storm's sustained winds had decreased to 155 mph, downgrading it from Category 5 to Category 4.

The task force draws its members from different public safety agencies across the state and specializes in urban search-and-rescue operations.

The task force sent members to Texas to rescue victims of Hurricane Harvey. The state OEM announced Wednesday that those rescuers had just returned to New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose has formed to the east, far out over the Atlantic Ocean, and Hurricane Katia was spinning over the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.</s>Hurricane Irma causes catastrophic destruction in Florida as it makes landfall.

Large waves produced by Hurricane Irma crash into the end of Anglins Fishing Pier Sept. 10, 2017 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The category 4 hurricane made landfall in the United States in the Florida Keys at 9:10 a.m. after raking across the north coast of Cuba. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands in Florida are huddled in shelters as the hurricane makes a catastrophic hit on the state.

Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.</s>Damage along the Camaguey Archipelago, which was pummelled by wind speeds of more than 160 mph (260km/h), is expected to mirror the carnage wrought across other Caribbean islands as the Category 5 storm heads for a direct hit on Ciego de Avila province. Irma’s winds are so devastating they destroyed Cuban meteorological equipment used to record wind speeds. Power lines and palm trees have been uprooted by the hurricane as sheets of rain lash the area rand huge waves crash over sea walls. But meteorologists have warned scenes of far greater devastation are sure to emerge as Irma works her way along the northern coast westward through Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara provinces where it is forecast to turn north toward Florida.

In Gibara, province of Holguin, first reports of damage are coming in with local hospitals and schools suffering structural damage along with other properties and businesses. The area around the pier has also been badly damaged by the heavy seas where officials reported waves were reaching a terrifying 26ft (8m). Irma, one of the fiercest Atlantic storms in a century, is expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning, bringing massive damage from wind and flooding to the fourth-largest state by population. Irma was about 275 miles (440 km) south-southeast of Miami, the US National Hurricane Center 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). Governor Rick Scott said: “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.”

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 will hit the US two weeks after Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, struck Texas, killing about 60 people and causing property damage estimated at up to £150 billion in Texas and Louisiana.

Officials were preparing a massive response, the head of FEMA said. 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. The NHC Jose, expected to reach the northeastern Caribbean later today, is an extremely dangerous storm nearing Category 5 status, with winds of up to 150 mph (240km/h).
Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida as a category 4 hurricane, killing at least three people and knocking out power to over one million households.