Hurricane Irma, which was reclassified as a tropical storm early Monday, saved some of its worst storm surge impacts for northeast Florida, coastal Georgia, and SC. At 5 a.m., the storm was centered 60 miles north of Tampa. The storm swamped much of downtown Miami and toppled at least three constructions cranes – two over downtown Miami and one in Fort Lauderdale, the Associated Press reported. But because of disrupted communications and cut-off roads, the full scale of its damage was unclear, especially in the dangerously exposed Keys, which felt Irma’s full fury when the storm came ashore.
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“The great news is that majority evacuated”, Nelson told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” program.
About 6.5 million homes in Florida, two thirds of the total, are without power after Hurricane Irma cut a deadly path through the U.S. state, officials say.
More than a million people were evacuated in Cuba with the storm causing significant damage with waves up to 9 meters high reported with widespread flooding.
But Irma again intensified over the warm waters approaching the Florida mainland, making it a Category 4, then shortly thereafter a 3 (still considered a major hurricane).
So far, Hurricane Irma has left 26 dead since it first made landfall on September 6 in the Caribbean islands.
Authorities are reporting the first death in SC related to Tropical Storm Irma.
The Ohio River Valley could experience heavy rain, flooding, strong winds and other damage associated with the storm Wednesday and Thursday.
A tropical storm warning remains in effect for Coffee, Dale, Houston, Henry and Geneva counties, and winds were picking up on Monday and already gusting to almost 30 miles per hour across the area, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla.
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State government offices as well as some schools in Georgia will be closed both Monday and Tuesday.
