Hurricane Irma has its sight set on the west coast of Florida. As of 5 a.m. Saturday, it is a Category 4 storm at 155 mph.</s>Hurricane Irma pummeled the north coast of Cuba Saturday, inflicting "significant damage" as millions of people in the US state of Florida hunkered down for a direct hit from the monster storm.

Irma's blast through the Cuban coastline weakened the storm to a Category Three, but it is still packing 125 mile-an-hour winds (205 kilometer per hour) and was expected to regain power before hitting the Florida Keys early Sunday, US forecasters.

At least 19 people have been killed since Irma began its devastating march through the Caribbean as a Category Five storm of nearly unmatched power, making landfall late Friday in Cuba on the Camaguey archipelago.

Terrified Cubans who rode out Irma in coastal towns reported "deafening" winds, uprooted trees and power lines, and blown rooftops.

"What's out there is terrible," said Gisela Fernandez, a 42-year-old nurse, after the storm whipped the town in Chapara in the province of Las Tunas Friday. "It's finished raining, but all night long there were terrible winds."

The governor of Camaguey province, Isabel Gonzalez Cardenas, said her area was "seriously affected," but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Cuban officials reported "significant damage."

More than a million people evacuated from vulnerable areas in Cuba.

In Florida, cities on both the east and west coasts of the peninsular state took on the appearance of ghost towns, as nervous residents heeded insistent evacuation orders affecting 5.6 million people.

The storm's forecast track has shifted slightly, so it now looks bound for Florida's west Gulf coast instead of the Atlantic coast, with landfall expected Sunday morning in the Florida Keys.

But Irma is so wide that authorities were bracing for destructive storm surges on both coasts and the Keys, the chain of low-lying islands that stretch south of Miami toward Cuba.

And hurricane-force winds are expected to lash the peninsula as it rolls north toward Georgia.

In Key West, police opened a "shelter of last resort" for those fool-hardy enough to ignore mandatory evacuation orders.

Flood-prone Miami Beach, also under mandatory evacuation order, has been emptied of people but is bracing for high waters.

"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."

Across the peninsula the Gulf coast city of Fort Myers also was battening down for Irma's screaming winds, rain and storm surge.

"This is a worst case scenario for our city. And our region," the city's mayor, Randall Henderson said on CNN. "We're taking it very seriously. We are prepared for it."

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.

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

Cuban-American Orlando Reyes, 82, was forced to flee his assisted living facility in Miami Beach.

"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 smashed through a string of Caribbean islands, beginning with tiny Barbuda on Wednesday, followed by the holiday islands of St Barts and St Martin.

Also affected were the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Turks and Caicos. The Bahamas were spared Irma's worst.

French state-owned reinsurer CCR estimated Irma had caused 1.2 billion euros ($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," St 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.

The deteriorating weather grounded aircraft and prevented boats from bringing relief supplies to hard-hit islands.

Katia, which made landfall in eastern Mexico late Friday as a Category One hurricane, had weakened by Saturday to a tropical depression. Mexico reported two people killed by mudslides unleashed by the heavy rains.

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.

At least two people were killed in Puerto Rico, and many residents were without power.

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

A child died in Barbuda, where 30 percent of properties were demolished and the entire island has been evacuated.

France said at least 10 people 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.</s>TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Hurricane Irma is maintaining 180 mph winds as the powerful storm heads toward the Bahamas after killing 8 people in the Caribbean.

“As of 5 am, Irma is expected to reach the southern tip of Florida by early Sunday morning as a Category 4 hurricane,” said Storm Team 8 Meteorologist Leigh Spann.

“Irma’s winds have only slightly weakened as it has passed over the Caribbean Islands. It is still a Category 5 hurricane with 180 mph sustained winds,” said Spann.

The eye of the Category 5 storm is passing to the north of the eastern Dominican Republic and about 210 miles east-southeast of Grand Turk Island.

A hurricane warning has been issued for the northwestern Bahamas.
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• Tampa Bay area residents need to get hurricane plans in place while skies still blue</s>Irma continues to linger over the north coast of Cuba and is moving west at 9 mph.

The storm's maximum sustained winds are near 125 mph with higher gusts making Irma's current strength a Category 3 storm.

However, Irma is forecast to restrengthen once it moves away from Cuba. The National Huricane Center advisory said Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida.

A northwest motion is expected to begin later today with a turn toward the north-northwest on Sunday. On the forecast track, the core of Irma is expected to reach the Florida Keys Sunday morning. The hurricane is expected to move along or near the southwest coast of Florida on Sunday afternoon.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles.

More: Hurricane Irma: Collier County orders more evacuations in East Naples and North Naples

More: Hurricane Irma: List of expanded evacuation zones in Collier

More: Hurricane Irma: SW Florida can expect 7 hours of hurricane-force winds Sunday

However, Irma is forecast to restrengthen once it moves away from Cuba. The National Huricane Center advisory said Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles. Caibarien, Cuba recently reported a wind gust to 124 mph.</s>As Hurricane Irma continues to approach Florida, the conditions across the area are deteriorating.

Molasses Reef recently reported sustained winds of 49 mph with gusts of up to 56 mph while Marathon had sustained winds of 41 mph with gusts up to 55 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The 5 p.m. advisory shows Hurricane Irma is slowly moving away from Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, according to the NHC.

The storm will reach the Keys by Sunday (Sept. 10) morning and is expected to move along or near the southwest coast of Florida Sunday afternoon.

Although the track of the storm has had a westward trend, South Florida residents cannot let their guard down, as hurricane-force winds can extend up to 70 miles from the center while tropical storm-force winds extend almost 200 miles away.</s>As Hurricane Irma gripped Cuba on Friday and Saturday, a CNN reporter braved the 100mph-plus winds to give a frightening live broadcast from the heart of the storm.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann and his team were stationed in Caibarien and had to take cover intermittently as they rode out 160mph winds and rain.

On Friday, before conditions reached their worst in the city, he took to the airwaves for a heroic broadcast where he was filmed being thrashed in the face by his own clothes as the winds blew.

On Friday night, he was forced to retreat into a house with his camera crew to take shelter.

He described how the hurricane was giving Cuba 'holy hell' and watched as 'waves' gushed through the streets he said he had walked on hours before.

Cuba was tortured by the hurricane for hours over Friday and Saturday.

Irma made landfall there on Friday night at 11pm and battered the coast and parts of The Bahamas.

It finally began moving away from the island nation on Saturday afternoon and is now on track to hit the Florida Keys later on Saturday night.

Then, it will barrel up the southwest coast of Florida before making a direct hit on Tampa on Monday.

The east coast has been given a sudden lifeline by its change of course but people are still being warned to take the storm seriously.

Storm surges will see water in parts of Miami rise up to up to 10ft. There will still be hurricane force winds in most of southern Florida, no matter where Irma hits.</s>Cuba was spared much of the utter destruction of Hurricane Irma, early reports from the island nation indicate.

The powerful storm hit parts of eastern Cuba on Friday as a Category 5 storm. As of Saturday afternoon, no deaths had been reported, according to the Washington Post.

At present, the storm is hitting parts of the island's north coast. More than one million people on the island, which has a population of about 11million, had been evacuated to safer parts of the country.

Havana, the nation's capital, has experienced flooding and high coastal waves. However, it is not expected to experience significant damage. Thousands of tourists on the island were brought to Havana for safety.

Cuban media reports do suggest extensive damage in other parts of the country.

One resident of Nuevitas, a large port town that is a 7-hour drive east from Havana, told the Washington Post: 'The streets are full of rubble. There are houses with their roofs ripped off. Even the oldest trees in town have been knocked down.'

Irma barreled in for a direct hit at Ciego de Avila province around midnight and left Caibairen and most other areas in that region without power.

Choppy seas, grey skies, sheets of rain, bending palm trees, huge waves crashing over sea walls and downed power lines filled the state run television's evening newscast on Friday night.

Winds as fast as 124 mph blew through Caibarien on Saturday morning, CNN reports. Waves as high as 30 feet have battered the north coast.

Irma also hit Camaguey Province as a Category 5 storm for the first time in 85 years.

The hurricane is expected to hover around Cuba's north coast before making its way into the central Bahamas.

Since hitting Cuba, the storm has been downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane. But it is expected to strengthen into a Category 5 storm en route to the Florida Keys and Miami.

The Floridian metropolis is, as of Saturday afternoon, beginning to experience stormy weather.

As it advances towards south Florida, the state has so far asked around 6million people to evacuate - nearly a third of the state's population. The storm is currently expected to hit the Florida Keys on Sunday morning and southwest Florida later that afternoon.

'This is a storm that will kill you if you don't get out of the way,' said National Hurricane Center meteorologist and spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

The National Weather Service also tweeted out a warning to anyone still in the Florida Keys, saying 'Nowhere will be safe.'

The storm has so far left in its wake a ravaged string of Caribbean resort islands strewn with splintered umber, corrugated metal and broken concrete.

Wind speeds were reported as high 160 mph and were not expected to slow throughout the night.

So far there are at least 24 people dead as a result of the storm, including nine in unspecified French territories, one in Barbuda, one in Anguilla, two in St Maarten, four in the British Virgin Islands, four in the US Virgin Islands, and three and Puerto Rico. The victim in Barbuda has been identified as two-year-old Carl Junior Francis.

According to CNN, the Bahamas should be spared the worst of the storm, though the hurricane has yet to take full force in the region.

'We are waiting for the worst of it,' Cyril Vanier, CNN reporter said.

'The forecasts here have been proved slightly wrong - but in a good way. We're talking tropic storm-force winds. We're not expecting here in the capital Nassau anything that would threaten the structure of buildings.'

It is so far looking like The Bahamas are going to be spared the worst bits of the bad weather. People there are currently heading to the highest and safest houses or to one of 24 shelters.

Startling images from the past several days show the devastation the deadly storm has left in its wake on more than a half-dozen Caribbean islands.

The hurricane took a particularly heavy toll on the French-Dutch island of St Martin, where homes, stores, ports, airports, gas stations and power stations were left in shambles after Irma made landfall there as a Category 5 hurricane on Wednesday, packing winds of up to 185mph.

Gnarled black branches of leafless trees, street after street now littered with piles of corrugated tin, plywood, wrought iron, battered cars and unidentifiable objects that were once parts of someone's life.

The Dutch government on Friday raised its estimate of casualties caused on the Dutch part of the island to two dead, one of natural causes, and 43 wounded.

Of those wounded, 11 are in critical condition, Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said at a press conference.

Two hundred Dutch soldiers are assisting on the island from two nearby ships as it struggles to restore its airport and main harbor in order so that it can receive more aid.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Friday nine people were killed, at least seven were missing, and 112 others were injured in St Barthelemy and the French part of St Martin.

The overall death toll stands at 24 Friday evening, and is only expected to rise as rescuers reach some of the hardest-hit areas.

The hurricane smashed homes, schools, stores, roads and boats on Wednesday and Thursday as it rolled over islands long known as turquoise-water playgrounds of the rich.

It knocked out power, water and telephone service, trapped thousands of tourists and stripped the lush green trees of leaves, leaving an eerie, blasted-looking landscape. Authorities reported looting and gunfire in St Martin, and a curfew was imposed in the US Virgin Islands.

Downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, Irma pummeled the Turks and Caicos Islands early Friday after saturating the northern edges of the Dominican Republic and Haiti with torrential downpours.

Communications went down as the storm slammed into the islands, and the extent of the devastation was not immediately clear.

The hurricane also spun along the northern coast of Cuba, where tens of thousands of people were being moved to safety, including thousands of tourists along a shoreline dotted with all-inclusive resorts.

US, Dutch, French and British authorities used warships and military planes to rush food, water and troops to the stricken zone.

The frightful storm then took aim at the southeastern Bahamas, where 20-foot storm surges were expected Saturday.

The tiny eastern Caribbean island of Barbuda, where a two-year-old child was killed, was reduced 'to rubble', Prime Minister Gaston Browne said. The storm flattened nearly 95 per cent of all structures on the island, and there were more bad news for the battered landmass in the form of Hurricane Jose, which is expected to make landfall on Saturday, bringing winds of up to 150 mph.

Stevet Jeremiah, whose son Carl Junior Francis, was the sole casualty reported on Barbuda, said the boy was swept to his death after the hurricane ripped the roof off her house and filled it with water.

'There was so much water beating past us. We had to crawl to get to safety. Crawl,' she said.

'I have never seen anything like this in my life, in all the years I experienced hurricanes. And I don't ever, ever, ever want to see something like this again.

'Two years old. He just turned two, the 17th, last month. Just turned two.'

Her neighbors found Carl Junior just after sunrise after his body was swept away.

In the British overseas territory of Anguilla, another person was killed and the hospital, airport and power and phone services were damaged, emergency service officials said.

Irma was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

And now, because Hurricane Jose is hot on Irma's heels, almost all of Barbuda's population of 1,400 people has been evacuated to Antigua, its larger sister island. Jose is currently a category four storm, but the US National Hurricane Center said it's close to becoming category five.

While Irma continues to wreak havoc in the Caribbean, before making the dreaded turn towards Florida this weekend, and then Georgia early next week, Hurricane Jose is now following close on its heels.

On Friday, Jose strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane in the central Atlantic. A hurricane watch is in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Dutch St Maarten, French Caribbean St Martin and St Barthelemy.

A tropical storm warning is also in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St Martin, St Barthelemy and St Maarten.

A tropical storm watch has been issued for Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis, Saba, St Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands, St Thomas and St John.

Images of devastation caused by Irma coming out of the Caribbean this week offer a glimpse of what could lie ahead early Sunday for Florida, which braced for what many fear could be the long-dreaded Big One, with the Miami metropolitan area of 6million in the cross hairs.

Irma was at one point the most powerful recorded storm in the open Atlantic. It could be one of the most devastating storms ever to hit Florida, a state that has undergone rapid development since the last major hurricane struck a dozen years ago.

Florida residents and tourists faced gas shortages and gridlock on inland highways as a half-million people in Miami-Dade County were ordered to clear out before it's too late.</s>(Reuters) - Hurricane Joaquin will bring high winds and a storm surge to the Central Bahamas through Thursday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

The major hurricane, located about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of San Salvador with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h), is expected to strengthen in the next day or so, the NHC said.

A major hurricane is classified as packing winds of 111 miles per hour (179 km/h) or higher, corresponding to Category 3 or higher on a scale of 1 to 5, according to the NHC.</s>The Latest on Hurricane Irma (all times local):

The National Hurricane Center says the eye of powerful Hurricane Irma is expected to hit southwest Florida and Tampa sometime Sunday, but the entire state will feel the storm’s effects.

Hurricane Center spokesman and meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said Saturday that while Miami won’t get the core of Irma it will still get life-threatening hurricane conditions.

The Category 4 storm pounded Cuba early Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph). It was expected to strengthen before hitting Florida.

Hurricane Irma’s winds have slowed slightly while it rakes Cuba, but the massive storm is expected to strengthen again as it approaches Florida.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Saturday morning that Irma remained a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph). Forecasters expect the storm to pick strength back up as it moves away from Cuba.

The storm’s center was about 10 miles (15 kilometers) northwest of Caibarien, Cuba. That’s also about 225 miles (365 kilometers) south of Miami.

Meteorologists say damaging winds from Irma’s outer bands were already arriving in South Florida. The storm was expected to reach the Florida Keys on Sunday morning before moving up the state’s Gulf Coast.

Meteorologists say damaging winds are blowing into South Florida as Hurricane Irma approaches.

The National Weather Service said Saturday morning that damaging winds were moving into areas including Key Biscayne, Coral Gables and South Miami. Gusts of up to 56 mph (90 kph) were reported on Virginia Key off Miami as the storm’s outer bands arrived.

The center of the storm was about 245 miles (395 kilometers) southeast of Miami early Saturday as it raked the northern coast of Cuba.

The latest forecast track predicts the center of the storm will move along Florida’s Gulf Coast through Monday.

France’s public insurance agency estimates that Hurricane Irma inflicted 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion) in damage on infrastructure in the French overseas islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy.

In a statement Saturday, the Caisse Central de Reassurance, France’s public-sector reinsurer that provides coverage for natural disasters, said that amount covers damage to houses, vehicles and businesses.

It added that Hurricane Irma is “one of the biggest natural catastrophes to have occurred in France in 35 years.”

The agency said affected residents have 10 days to make a claim starting from Saturday, when the status of a natural disaster was officially declared

France’s Director of Public Safety has held a press conference in Paris on the recovery efforts in the French overseas island territories of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy that are reeling from Hurricane Irma.

Jacques Witkowski said Saturday that “there are 1,100 people, both civilian and military, deployed on the islands” to help with recovery.

But he said they were also tasked with evacuation of residents ahead of another hurricane, Jose, which is expected to violently pummel islands in the Caribbean later on Saturday.

Witkowski said the eye of Hurricane Jose will pass close to the islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy.

The National Hurricane Center says Irma has weakened slightly to a Category 4 hurricane, as it moves over the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba.

Irma had briefly regained Category 5 strength late Friday, but now has maximum sustained winds of 155 mph (249 kph). The hurricane is about 245 miles (394 kilometers) from Miami and moving about 12 mph (19.3 kph) toward the west-northwest.

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose is a Category 4 hurricane, about 190 miles (306 kilometers) east-southeast of The Northern Leeward Islands, moving toward the islands at 13 mph (20.92 kph) with winds reaching 150 mph.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katia made landfall late Friday north of Tecolutla, Mexico and weakened to a tropical storm. By early Saturday morning it was 135 miles (217 kilometers) south of Tampico, Mexico, moving sluggishly at only 2 mph (3.2 kph) near the Sierra Madre Mountains with maximum winds of 40 mph (64.4 kph). It was expected to weaken further throughout the day.

Dutch marines have dropped flyers from a helicopter warning beleaguered inhabitants on the devastated nation of St. Maarten to head to shelters as Hurricane Jose barrels through the Caribbean.

Jose, a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds, was forecast to pass close to St. Maarten over the weekend, delivering a second damaging blow to the former Dutch colony that suffered catastrophic damage when Category 5 Hurricane Irma slammed into it on Wednesday.

Peter Jan de Vin, a Dutch military commander on the island of Curacao who is helping coordinate relief efforts on St. Maarten, tweeted a picture Saturday morning of a marine dropping flyers out of a helicopter flying low over one of St. Maarten’s shattered seafront neighborhoods.

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>(In Sept. 13 item, updates to correct spelling of the last name of Michael Beason from Benson, in 19th paragraph and throughout)

By Andrew Innerarity and Ricardo Ortiz

HOLLYWOOD, Fla./SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott vowed on Wednesday that the state would aggressively investigate how six people died at a nursing home that lost power when Hurricane Irma rampaged through the region, as millions coped with another day without electricity.

The death toll from the storm approached 80 as officials continued to assess the damage after Irma powered through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record and slammed into the Florida Keys archipelago with sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour).

Irma killed at least 36 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to officials. Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power on Wednesday in Florida and nearby states.

Police opened a criminal investigation at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, north of Miami, where three elderly residents were found dead at the facility and three later died at a nearby hospital, officials said.

“I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a statement. “This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe.”

More than 100 patients at the nursing home were evacuated on Wednesday along with 18 patients from a nearby facility that was cleared due to the criminal investigation, Hollywood officials said.

“Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues,” Randy Katz, a spokesman for Memorial Regional Hospital, told reporters. Memorial Regional is located across the street from the nursing home.

Police were first called to the facility at about 4:30 a.m. but did not arrive until after 6 a.m., officials said.

The center had been without air conditioning, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday.

“The building has been sealed off and we are conducting a criminal investigation inside,” Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. “It was very hot on the second floor.”

Florida Power & Light said it had provided power to some parts of the Hollywood nursing home but that the facility was not on a county top tier list for emergency power restoration.

The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is pictured in Hollywood, Florida, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

NEW DAMAGE ESTIMATES

Irma caused about $25 billion in insured losses, including $18 billion in the United States and $7 billion in the Caribbean, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co estimated on Wednesday.

The Florida Keys were particularly hard hit, with federal officials saying that 25 percent of homes were destroyed and 65 percent suffered major damage when Irma barreled ashore on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane.

Most residents had left by then and police have barred re-entry to most of the Keys to allow more time to restore electricity and medical service and bring water, food and fuel.

“I don’t have a house. I don’t have a job. I have nothing,” said Mercedes Lopez, 50, whose family fled north from the Keys town of Marathon on Friday and rode out the storm at an Orlando hotel, only to learn their home was destroyed, along with the gasoline station where Lopez worked.

President Donald Trump is due to visit the region on Thursday.

‘EVERYTHING IS GONE’

Irma wreaked total devastation in parts of the Caribbean, where at least 43 people have died.

People who fled their homes in hard-hit islands including St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were all but cut off from the world for days arrived in San Juan late Tuesday.

Slideshow (13 Images)

Michael Beason, 65, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he lost everything.

“My house, my business, both my vehicles, everything is gone,” said Beason, who was stopping in San Juan before continuing to Boston to seek refuge with his wife’s brother.

“But we have life. We rode out that horrible storm in a shower that I had reinforced after Hurricane Marilyn,” Beason added. “I told the man (who installed the shower), I told him, ‘If the hurricane takes the rest of my house, I want this shower sticking up out of that slab like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum. And sure enough that’s what’s left.”

Irma hit the United States about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, killing about 60 and causing some $180 billion in damage, mostly from flooding.
Hurricane Irma's death toll this week is at least 21 people after recently hitting Cuba and The Bahamas as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph (250 km/h).