Irma has weakened to a tropical storm as it moves over Florida toward southern Georgia.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds decreased Monday morning to near 70 mph (110 kph).
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says it’s expected to weaken to a tropical depression by Tuesday afternoon.
Irma is centered about 105 miles (170 kilometers) north-northwest of Tampa, Florida, and is moving north-northwest near 18 mph (30 kph).
Irma hit southern Florida on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing roof-ripping winds, gushing floodwaters and widespread power outages.
The weakened but still dangerous Irma pushed inland Monday as it hammered Florida with roof-ripping winds and gushing floodwaters that created hazards even for emergency personnel trying to help beleaguered residents.
It continued its slog north along Florida’s western coast, while its outer bands pushed into Georgia. With rough conditions persisting across the peninsula, many communities in the storm’s wake feared what destruction would be revealed when daylight came.
More than 3.3 million homes and businesses across Florida lost power, and utility officials said it will take weeks to restore electricity to everyone. In Polk County east of Tampa, winds knocked a utility pole and lines onto a sheriff’s cruiser late Sunday, illustrating the dangerous conditions for rescuers. A deputy and a paramedic were trapped for two hours until a crew could free them; both were unhurt.
And more than 120 homes were being evacuated early Monday in Orange County, just outside the city of Orlando, as floodwaters started to pour in. The fire department and the National Guard are going door-to-door and using boats to ferry families to safety, county officials said. A few miles away, 30 others had to be evacuated when a 60-foot sinkhole opened up under an apartment building. No injuries were reported in either case.
Irma’s center was about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Tampa early Monday, though in a much-weakened state. While it arrived in Florida a Category 4 hurricane, it was down to a Category 1 with winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The monster storm has toppled at least three constructions cranes — two over downtown Miami and one in Fort Lauderdale. Continued weakening was forecast and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Irma was expected to become a tropical storm later Monday. Meanwhile, more than 160,000 people waited in shelters across Florida.
No deaths in Florida were immediately linked to the storm. In the Caribbean, at least 24 were people were killed during Irma’s destructive trek across exclusive islands known as the vacation playground for the rich. In Cuba, the storm swamped Havana’s iconic seawall, pushing water nearly a third of a mile (half a kilometer) inland.
In one of the largest U.S. evacuations, nearly 7 million people in the Southeast were warned to seek shelter, including 6.4 million in Florida alone. In the coming days, Irma is expected to push into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and beyond. A tropical storm warning was issued for the first time ever in Atlanta, where many schools canceled classes.
Bryan Koon, Florida’s emergency management director, said late Sunday that authorities had only scattered information about the storm’s toll.
“I’ve not heard of catastrophic damage. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It means it hasn’t gotten to us yet,” Koon said.
In the low-lying Keys, where a storm surge of over 10 feet (3 meters) was recorded, appliances and furniture were seen floating away, and Monroe County spokeswoman Cammy Clark said the ocean waters were filled with navigation hazards, including sunken boats.
The county administrator, Roman Gastesi, said crews would begin house-to-house searches Monday morning to check on survivors.
Storm surge and tornadoes were two big concerns. The National Hurricane Center said a federal tide gauge in Naples reported a 7-foot (more than 2-meter) rise in water levels in just 90 minutes late Sunday. And an apparent tornado spun off by Irma destroyed six mobile homes in Palm Bay, midway up the Atlantic coast. Flooding was reported along Interstate 4, which cuts across Florida’s midsection.
Curfews were imposed overnight in Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and much of the rest of South Florida, and some arrests of violators were reported. Miami Beach barred outsiders from the island.
About 30,000 people heeded orders to leave the Keys as the storm closed in, but an untold number refused, in part because, to many storm-hardened residents, staying behind in the face of danger is a point of pride.
John Huston, who stayed in his Key Largo home, watched his yard flood even before the arrival of high tide.
“Small boats floating down the street next to furniture and refrigerators. Very noisy,” he said by text message. “Shingles are coming off.” Irma made landfall just after 9 a.m. Sunday at Cudjoe Key, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) outside Key West. On Sunday afternoon, it rounded Florida’s southwestern corner and hugged the coast closely as it pushed north.
Gretchen Blee, who moved with her husband to Naples from Long Island, New York, after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 heavily damaged their beach home, took cover in a hotel room as Irma raged.
“I said, ‘Let’s go and live the good life in paradise’,” she said. “And here we are.” Some 400 miles (640 kilometers) north of the Keys, people in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area feared a first direct hit from a major hurricane since 1921. But the storm weakened to a Category 2 as it approached that area.
“I’ve been here with other storms, other hurricanes. But this one scares me,” Sally Carlson said as she snapped photos of the waves crashing against boats in St. Petersburg. “Let’s just say a prayer we hope we make it through.”
Irma once was the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the open Atlantic, a Category 5 with a peak wind speed of 185 mph (300 kph). For days, forecasters had warned Irma was taking dead aim at the Miami area and the rest of Florida’s Atlantic coast. But then Irma made a westward shift and lost some of its punch while crossing Cuba’s northern coast — just before a crucial turn into Florida’s Gulf Coast.
*Culled from AP.
