WEB DESK /
The most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade, Hurricane Irma, hit Cuba overnight as a rare Category 5 storm before being downgraded to a Category 3 Saturday morning. It is expected to strengthen again as it heads toward Florida. Hurricane Irma shifted track and took aim at southwestern Florida, raising the risk of severe damage in Tampa and other cities facing the Gulf of Mexico, in what could end up being the most expensive storm in U.S. history.
Millions of people have been asked to evacuate and high winds and tens of thousands of power outages already reported from a storm that threatened to ravage the state with destruction not seen in a generation.
More than five million people across Florida have been ordered to evacuate and thousands crammed into shelters. Gov. Rick Scott sounded dire warnings about the storm Saturday morning, urging residents in evacuation zones to leave their homes immediately.
“Once the storm starts, law enforcement cannot save you,” Scott said at a news conference in Sarasota.
As of about 3 p.m. Saturday, Irma was 140 miles southeast of Key West with winds of 125 mph. It was moving west at 9 mph and is expected to turn north and head up the western coast of Florida, making landfall on Sunday, reports ABC.
“This is a life-threatening situation,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Saturday. “Our state has never seen anything like it.”
The governor stressed the dangers of what he called a “deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge.”
FEMA chief says his biggest concern is “anybody that stayed behind. The time to evacuate is… running out.”
Cruise Lines Send Ships to Caribbean on Hurricane Rescue Mission, reports BLOOMBERG
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. are sending some of their empty ships to the Caribbean to help evacuate stranded tourists and bring much-needed supplies to islands severely damaged by Hurricane Irma.
The devastating storm has left at least 22 people dead and thousands homeless across the Caribbean, and threatens to rack up as much as $200 billion in damages. Irma’s anticipated northern turn still hasn’t occurred, raising the threat to Florida’s west coast while potentially sparing Miami a direct hit. Now about 145 miles southeast of Key West, Irma could come ashore between Tampa and Fort Myers late Sunday or early Monday.
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