Hurricane Irma knocked out power to almost 4 million homes and businesses in Florida on Sunday, threatening millions more as it crept up the state’s west coast, and full restoration of service could take weeks, local electric utilities said.
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Curfews were imposed in Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and much of the rest of South Florida, and some arrests of violators were reported.
If you need more info, you can call Florida’s Emergency line at 1-800-342-3557 or visit their site here. Between 2,000 and 3,000 utility workers from out-of-state are staying at BB&T Stadium in Broward County, which is home to the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, said Beyersdorf.
More people in the US state of Florida will get to see Tuesday the damage left by Hurricane Irma, while half of the state’s population remains without power and roads in many areas are covered by flood waters or debris.
According to this map from the National Hurricane Center, although Georgia is in the cone of probability for the center of the storm, South and North Carolina are barely within that cone. “We have to wait till all the elements pass through”, he said. Just two feet of fast-moving flood water can move an SUV, and just six inches can knock over an adult, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As Irma moves inland, more than 45 million people will face tropical storm conditions.
Trees and branches are seen on a street after being torn down by strong winds as hurricane Irma arrives in Miami, Florida, the United States, on September 10, 2017.
As of 8 a.m. EDT Monday, Irma was centered about 30 miles north-northeast of Cedar Key and was moving north-northwest at 18 mph. In all, LCEC said by Sunday night 131,000 customers were without power.
“The damage is in the gate areas, where water leaked in from jet bridges and the roof”.
Resident of Miami Beach were informed that they would only be allowed to return to their homes to assess the damage if they could show proof of residency, and even then only once the authorities deemed it safe to make the journey.
– Disney World was forced to close, for only the sixth time in its 45-year history. Parts of the state could see storm surges as high as 15 feet, NBC reports, with some neighborhoods totally submerged.
At least 10 deaths in the U.S. Southeast are now blamed on Irma, including people hit by falling trees or tree limbs.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott says he also spoke with Trump on Sunday.
In the Tampa Bay area, access to all of Pinellas County’s barrier islands, including the popular spring break destination of Clearwater Beach, was shut off. Some school districts in Georgia and Alabama are closed through Tuesday.
In metro Atlanta, MARTA suspended its bus and rail service on Monday ahead of the storm.
Irma’s arrival in Florida came around two weeks after Hurricane Harvey claimed about 60 lives and caused property damage estimates as high as $180 billion after pummeling the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana with heavy rains and severe flooding.
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Before it weakened and headed to the United States, Irma hit Cuba’s Ciego de Avila province late Friday as a Category 5 hurricane.
