Tropical Storm Irma is heading to the Mid

Hurricane Irma is careening through Florida, and anyone still in its path has been privy to some of the storm’s less expected meteorological side effects.

It was later downgraded to a Category 3 storm.

In a hurricane’s outer bands, tornadoes represent a burst of concentrated destruction in an area that otherwise might not see the devastating levels of wind produced by the hurricane’s core.

At least one other possibly storm-related fatal vehicle crash was reported on Sunday in Orange County, Florida.

Downgraded to a tropical storm early on Monday, Irma had ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record before barreling into the Florida Keys on Sunday and plowing northward along the Gulf Coast and moving inland to wreak havoc across a wide swath of the third-most populous US state.

Irma’s “rainbands” are now “producing gusty winds in the Florida Keys”, the NHC stated. Authorities are still trying to determine the extent of damage to the island but he said 28 police officers lost homes during the storms.

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 centre in Key West.

Until two days ago, many people thought Tampa would be a refuge from Hurricane Irma.

A petrol station in South Florida.

As of 2 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 25 miles northeast of Tampa and moving north-northwest near 15 mph. Its ferocity as it bore down on hurricane-prone Florida prompted one of the largest evacuations in United States history.

In one of the country’s largest evacuations, about 5.6 million people in Florida – more than one-quarter of the state’s population – were ordered to leave, and another 540,000 were ordered out on the Georgia coast. It’s got to be all hands on deck right now at the Hurricane Center.

Amy Phuong, parks and recreation commissioner for the city, says six crews already were handling calls for felled trees around the city Monday afternoon, as winds and rain began to intensify. He still had power. “I wanted a speedup anyway, but now we need it even more so”, he said in a longer video of the meeting that was released by the White House.

“I didn’t see the damage I thought I would see”, he reported.

A tourist poses for a picture outside of a shop in Miami prior to the arrival of Hurricane Irma. “We’ve got to work hard to get them their power back”.

Late Sunday, as the storm moved up Florida’s west coast, officials said 28,000 people had taken refuge in 45 county shelters in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa.

Miami International Airport will be closed Monday after sustaining “significant water damage throughout”, according to CEO Emilio Gonzalez.

Irma will move near the northwestern coast of the Florida peninsula this morning, cross the eastern Florida panhandle into southern Georgia this afternoon, and move through southwestern Georgia and eastern Alabama tonight and Tuesday.

One woman in Miami’s Little Haiti neighbourhood delivered her own baby, with medical personnel coaching her on the phone because emergency responders were not able to reach her, the city of Miami said on Twitter.

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for portions of Middle Tennessee. A tropical storm warning was in place for the Palmetto State from the Georgia border, north to the South Santee.

Early reports indicate that Irma has left more than four million people without power, while water and debris cover roadways.

We will update this post as more information becomes available. “It’s like being on a ship”.

While some made a decision to stay behind, he believed most residents heeded evacuation warnings. Thousands of flights were cancelled.

Emergency managers there declared “the Keys are not open for business” and warned that there was no fuel, electricity, running water or cell service and that supplies were low and anxiety high.