Water levels are already rising on the coast of the US state where a huge storm surge is expected.

Some 6.3 million people had been told to evacuate, but the state governor said on Saturday it was now too late to leave for anyone remaining.

At least 24 people have died after Irma earlier hit several Caribbean islands.

With maximum sustained winds of 120mph (193km/h), Irma hurricane has now weakened to a category three hurricane after making landfall in Cuba’s north-east late on Friday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) says in its latest advisory at 03:00 GMT on Sunday.

But Irma is expected to strengthen and will remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida, the NHC says.

It warns that a “life-threatening storm surge” is expected in the Florida Keys – a chain of small islands in Florida’s south – and also the west coast of Florida.

What is happening in Florida?
Irma is predicted to hit the coast on Sunday morning, but the outer bands are already affecting the south of the state and central Miami is being lashed by heavy rain.

The Florida Keys have suffered some minor damage and are expected to bear the brunt of the storm in the coming hours.

The head of emergencies agency Fema, Brock Long, told CNN there were “no safe areas within the Keys”.

“You put your life in your own hands by not evacuating,” he added.

“If you’re in an evacuation zone, you’ve got to get to a shelter need to get to a shelter… there’s not many hours left”, Florida Governor Rick Scott warned residents.

“The winds are coming, there is not gonna be a lot of time now to be able to drive very far.”

Thousands of people on the mainland are currently without electricity.

The western Gulf coast is expected to be worst affected, with cities such as Tampa and St Petersburg in the path of the storm.

The Tampa Bay area, with a population of about three million, has not been hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

Some 50,000 people have gone to shelters throughout the state, the governor said. Media reports say shelters in some areas have been filling up quickly and some people have been turned away.

Miami city and Broward county have imposed curfews to help clear the roads of traffic.

Which other areas have already been hit?

–Cuba: Officials have reported “significant damage”, without giving further details, but said there were no confirmed casualties yet, the AFP news agency reports

–St Martin and St Barthelemy: Six out of 10 homes on St Martin, an island shared between France and the Netherlands, now uninhabitable, French officials say. They said nine people had died and seven were missing in the French territories, while two are known to have died in Dutch Sint Maarten

–Turks and Caicos Islands: Widespread damage, although extent unclear

–Barbuda: The small island is said to be “barely habitable”, with 95% of the buildings damaged. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne estimates reconstruction will cost $100m (£80m). One death has been confirmed

–Anguilla: Extensive damage with one person confirmed dead

–Puerto Rico: More than 6,000 residents of the US territory are in shelters and many more without power. At least three people have died

–British Virgin Islands:Widespread damage reported, and five dead

–US Virgin Islands: Damage to infrastructure was said to be widespread, with four deaths confirmed

–Haiti and the Dominican Republic: Both battered by the storm, but neither had as much damage as initially feared

What about Hurricanes Jose and Katia?
Another storm, Jose, further out in the Atlantic behind Irma, is now a category four hurricane, with winds of up to 145mph.

It is following a similar path to Irma and already hampering relief efforts in some of the worst affected areas.

Residents of Barbuda, left the island as Jose approached but it is no longer expected to hit.

However, hurricane warnings are in place for St Martin and St Barthelemy, both also hit by Irma.

Hurricane Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, a category one storm with winds of up to 75mph, made landfall on the Mexican Gulf coast in the state of Veracruz late on Friday.

It has now weakened to a tropical depression.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41216890

The post Hurricane Irma: Florida braces for storm arrival first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Hurricane Irma model predicts worst-case scenario for Miami first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

As of 10 a.m., the glamorous Florida city was 60 hours from feeling the first effects of a killer storm that has already been blamed for nine deaths across a string of islands and has left more than a million people in Puerto Rico in the dark, NBC News’ Weather Unit warned.

“We likely will not know the fate of Miami until Irma turns north either Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening,” the meteorologists said in an update.

The good news is that Irma “has peaked in intensity” and likely to weaken very slowly over the next four days, they said.

But even a slightly weaker Irma could do serious damage to Miami and lash the low-lying city with 129 mph winds and gusts of up to 159 mph.

“Miami has no choice but to prepare for a strong Category 4 hurricane,” the NBC meteorologists warned. “Most of the damage in South Florida is expected from the storm surge and winds.”

And when Irma is done with Miami, it is expected to make landfall late Monday or early Tuesday further north in Georgia and South Carolina, the NBC forecasters said. The governors of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have declared states of emergency.

The dire forecast came after Irma battered the tiny island of Barbuda and left thousands homeless on the island territories of St. Bart and St. Martin, where local officials said about 95 percent of the island was completely demolished after Wednesday’s thrashing by the Category 5 storm.

“If you’re told to evacuate, get out quickly,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned. “Based on what we now know, Miami-Dade will have major hurricane impacts with deadly storm surge, deadly storm surge and life-threatening winds.”

Some 31,000 people have already fled the Florida Keys, which will start feeling the sting of Irma as early as Friday night, Scott said. And while South Florida is in Irma’s bull’s-eye right now, the whole state is in danger.

“Look at the size of this storm,” Scott said. “It’s huge. It’s wider that our entire state and could cause major and life-threatening impacts on both costs. Coast to coast.”

Scott invoked the memory of Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm that struck 25 years ago, killing 44 people and doing more than an adjusted $47.8 billion in damage just in the Sunshine State alone. It nearly wiped the city of Homestead off the map.

“This is much worse and more devastating on its current path,” Scott said.

Florida is working to get more fuel into the state as many areas are running low on gas. About 43% of gas stations in Miami-Fort Lauderdale are without fuel, according to GasBuddy.

“We know fuel is very important. And we’re absolutely devoting every state resource to addressing this and we’re talking to the federal government about their support,” Scott said.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said “Florida is as well prepared as you can be for something like this and we’ll see what happens.”

“We are with the people of Florida,” added the president, whose Mar-a-Lago mansion is located in Palm Beach.

Video obtained by NASA had the eye of Irma, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record, passing just to the north of the Dominican Republic on Thursday morning.

“Extremely dangerous Hurricane Irma heading for the Turks and Caicos islands,” the National Hurricane Center warned in an all caps bulletin issued at 11 a.m.. “Hurricane and storm surge watch are in effect for portions of South Florida and the Florida Keys.”

Irma largely spared Puerto Rico, hitting the island with a glancing blow. Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said they were starting the arduous task of assessing damage to the island and restoring power to its hardest hit areas.

Rosselló also warned residents that Puerto Rico still faces possible flash flooding and up to eight inches more rain through Saturday that will complicate the recovery on an island where bent trees, downed light posts and blocked roadways are now a common sight.

“Our objective was and is to save lives,” Rosselló said. “Now comes the evaluation of the damages and reconstruction.”

Over in the French Caribbean territories of St. Bart and St. Martin, stunned survivors were literally picking up the pieces.

“It is an enormous disaster … I am in shock,” Daniel Gibbs, chairman of a local council on St. Martin, told Radio Caribbean International.

At least eight people were killed and 23 more were injured by the storm, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

“It’s a tragedy, we’ll need to rebuild both islands,” he told French radio France Info. “Most of the schools have been destroyed.”

The Dutch side of St. Martin was also badly damaged. The Dutch government reported it was dispatching 100 soldiers and plane loads of food and water to the island.

One death was reported in the tiny island of Barbuba, where nearly every building was damaged when Irma’s core crossed almost directly over it early Wednesday. Some 60 percent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told The Associated Press.

Irma also raked through the British Virgin Islands. In London, Queen Elizabeth released a statement stating that she and Prince Philip were “shocked and saddened by the reports of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.”

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-irma/hurricane-irma-has-miami-its-sights-after-cutting-deadly-swath-n799476

The post Hurricane Irma Has Miami In Its Sights After Cutting Deadly Swath In Caribbean first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.