Hurricane Irma Makes Landfall In Florida; Subsides To Category 2 

Hurricane Irma made landfall at 8:10 am at Cudjoe Key, Florida, as a Category 4 storm packing maximum sustained winds of 130mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

The eye of Hurricane Irma slammed into the Florida Keys as the calamitous storm snapped palm trees and threatened to devastate much of the state.

The mammoth cyclone is hurling 130 winds — but even more dangerous may be the storm surges.

Southwestern coastal cities from Cape Sable and Captiva could see walls of water up to 15 feet, the National Hurricane Center said.

“This is a life-threatening situation,” the National Hurricane Center said. “Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”

Still, not everyone heeded orders to evacuate.

“It’s going from crappy to worse,” said John Hines, who did not evacuate and stayed in his home in Key West.

“All the interior doors are starting to rattle now, sounds like someone is knocking on the front door,” he said. “The winds are picking up. It’s only going to get worse as it gets closer.”

Almost the entire state of Florida is under a hurricane warning affecting at least 36 million people, with concerns of catastrophic gales, torrential rain rain and deadly storm surges.

Hurricane Irma lashed Florida on Sunday with gusts of up to 145mph, flooded downtown Miami, brought dangerous storm surges to the west coast and cut off the Florida Keys. Still in shelters around the state, officials likely will not know the scale of the damage for days.

However, the storm weakened as it moved up coast towards Tampa but officials warn of continued danger and full extent of damage may not be known for days.

After millions were ordered to evacuate, those left behind hunkered down. But Florida senator Marco Rubio said in a television interview: “You can’t hide from the water. That’s our biggest fear.”

When it struck the Keys around 9am, Irma was a category 4 hurricane and close to the force of its rampage across the Caribbean, which flattened buildings and led to the deaths of at least 25 people.

In a midday briefing in the state capital Tallahassee, governor Rick Scott said south-western coastal areas could see storm surges of 10ft to 15ft above ground, breathtakingly fast waves as tall as a one-storey home. Tampa should expect surges as large as 5ft, he said, while south-eastern parts of the state would see surges of 3ft to 6ft, high enough to float cars or envelop a person.

The islands of the Florida Keys recorded 12in of rain. All of south Florida could expect another 8in to 15in, Scott said.

In an interview with NBC, Scott said: “The most important thing is to pray for us.”

Four hundred miles wide, Irma initially moved at 8mph, slower than forecast, and lost strength as it raked the peninsula. A little after 4pm Irma made landfall on Marco Island as a category 3 storm, after hours of blasting south Florida with stinging, near horizontal rain, sudden tornadoes, floods and gusts as fast as 109mph.

Soon after, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded Irma to category 2. It was expected to be category 1 by the time it hit Tampa overnight and into Monday.

The city has not been hit by a major storm since 1921, when its population was about 10,000. Around three million people now live there. On Sunday afternoon large volumes of water were temporarily pushed out of Tampa Bay by winds, leaving an ominous plain behind – the waters would have to return.

Across the mouth of the bay in St Petersburg, many refused to leave. With plywood extremely difficult to find and no gas available, many houses were not boarded up. Police stopped people going to barrier islands even if they lived there. Curfews were issued for St Petersburg and Tampa at 5pm and 6pm respectively.

Further south, Naples, a city of about 20,000 people in a wider metropolitan area of more than 300,000, had woken up to a strange calm – if driving rain and trees shaking in the wind could be described as calm. Irma was on the way, though. Just before 1pm, the NWS warned inhabitants to shelter in place. At 3pm, the NWS warned: “STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER.”

In about an hour, the tide rose by 5.5ft, according to recordings taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Irma is now moving up the west coast of Florida but has been downgraded to a category 2 storm with winds of 105mph.