MIAMI: After laying waste to several Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma was barreling Saturday (Sep 9) towards Florida, where some 5.6 million people faced orders to evacuate as the monster storm made landfall in Cuba.

Irma - which has killed at least 19 people and devastated thousands of homes in the Caribbean - made landfall late Friday on the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba as a maximum-strength Category 5 storm.

The hurricane weakened slightly to a Category 4 hours later, swirling some 395km away from Miami and packing still powerful maximum sustained winds of 249kmh, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

In Cuba officials reported "significant damage" in parts of the island's center without providing further details, but said there were not yet casualties.

More than a million people on the Caribbean's largest island have evacuated as a precaution, authorities said.

Irma is expected to strike the Florida Keys late Saturday and Sunday before moving inland, and many residents have joined a mass exodus amid increasingly dire alerts to leave.

"It's not too late to get off the Keys!!!" the agency said. "You still have time, this morning, to get out! Please, the Keys are not safe."

According to Florida's Division of Emergency Management some 5.6 million residents have been ordered to evacuate - nearly a quarter of the state population.

Warning that Irma would be worse than Hurricane Andrew - which killed 65 people in 1992 - Florida's governor said all 20.6 million Floridians should prepare to flee.

"If you're in an evacuation zone, you should be very cautious, you should get out now," Governor Rick Scott told CNN. "This is a powerful storm bigger than our state."

Bumper-to-bumper traffic was snaking north out of the peninsula, with mattresses, gas cans and kayaks strapped to car roofs.

North of the Keys, in Miami Beach, 82-year-old Cuban-American Orlando Reyes had suddenly to flee his assisted living facility.

"It is frightening," he told AFP at a shelter in Miami. "We had to leave without a cent, without taking a bath, or bringing anything."

The storm ravaged a series of tiny islands before slamming into the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

French state-owned reinsurer CCR estimated Irma had caused 1.2 billion euros (US$1.4 billion) worth of damage to homes, vehicles and businesses in the territories of Saint Martin and Saint Barts.

"Houses are smashed, the airport is out of action," Saint Barts resident Olivier Toussaint told AFP.

"Upside-down cars are in the cemeteries. Boats are sunk in the marina, shops are destroyed."

Meteorologists meanwhile were closely monitoring two other Atlantic storms.

Jose, another powerful Category 4 storm, was heading towards the same string of Caribbean islands Irma has pummeled in recent days.

Katia made landfall in eastern Mexico late Friday - just as the country was grappling with its worst earthquake in a century - as a Category 1 hurricane.

It was later downgraded to a tropical storm but was still bringing rains that could bring "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides."

Hurricane Jose was wreaking havoc with emergency operations in the Caribbean, as the deteriorating weather prevented boats from leaving with relief supplies and grounded aircraft.

Cuba had already evacuated 10,000 foreign tourists from beach resorts ahead of Irma's arrival.

The hurricane "seriously affects" the central provinces of Camaguey and Ciego de Avila, Cuban meteorologist Elier Pila said on state television.

But because of Irma's massive size, its effects were felt from central-west regions to the island's east, he said. Communications are down in many municipalities there.

The neighboring Bahamas escaped the hurricane's wrath mostly unscathed, with no reports of casualties or major damage.

In Florida, where forecasters warned of storm surges of up to 12 feet (nearly four meters), normally bustling Miami Beach was deserted.

"Nobody can be prepared for a storm surge. They can destroy everything," said David Wallack, a 67-year-old salsa club owner attempting to secure his property on the city's Ocean Drive.

"We just can pray for the best. You put what you can in a suitcase and hope."

The US military was mobilizing thousands of troops and deploying several large ships to aid with evacuations and humanitarian relief, as the Air Force removed scores of planes from the southern United States.

In the Caribbean, violent winds ripped roofs and facades off buildings, hurling lumps of concrete, cars and even shipping containers aside.

At least two people were killed in Puerto Rico, and more than half of its three million residents were without power after rivers broke their banks in the center and north of the island.

Another four people were killed on the US Virgin Islands, with a number of badly injured people airlifted to Puerto Rico.

One person died in tiny Barbuda, where 30 per cent of properties were demolished and the entire island has been evacuated.

France said at least 10 had been killed across its Caribbean territories with seven more missing. There were 112 people injured, two seriously.

On the Dutch side of Saint Martin island, two people died.

In northwest Haiti, a motorcyclist was missing after trying to cross a flooded river and a number of roads were washed out.

European nations quickly mobilized to help their citizens in the Caribbean, with France and the Netherlands ordering hundreds of police to Saint Martin - where most of the 80,000 inhabitants have lost their homes - to tackle an outbreak of looting amid major shortages of food, water and petrol. </s> REMEDIOS, Cuba (Reuters) – Hurricane Irma pounded Cuba’s northern coast on Saturday as it headed for Florida, where millions of residents were told to evacuate after the storm killed 22 people in the Caribbean and left devastation in its wake. </s> [HAVANA] Hurricane Irma made landfall as a maximum-strength Category Five storm late Friday, US forecasters said, after leaving a trail of death and destruction on a string of Caribbean islands.

At 0300 GMT, the monster storm had made landfall on the communist island's Camaguey Archipelago, with the eye of the storm just 190 kilometres east-southeast of the Cuban city of Caibarien, and 300 miles south-southeast of Miami, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

It had maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometres per hour and was moving west at 20 kilometres per hour, also posing an increasing threat to the US state of Florida. </s> Hurricane Irma pummeled the north coast of Cuba Saturday, inflicting "significant damage" as millions of people in the US state of Florida hunkered down for a direct hit from the monster storm.

Irma's blast through the Cuban coastline weakened the storm to a Category Three, but it is still packing 125 mile-an-hour winds (205 kilometer per hour) and was expected to regain power before hitting the Florida Keys early Sunday, US forecasters.

At least 19 people have been killed since Irma began its devastating march through the Caribbean as a Category Five storm of nearly unmatched power, making landfall late Friday in Cuba on the Camaguey archipelago.

Terrified Cubans who rode out Irma in coastal towns reported "deafening" winds, uprooted trees and power lines, and blown rooftops.

"What's out there is terrible," said Gisela Fernandez, a 42-year-old nurse, after the storm whipped the town in Chapara in the province of Las Tunas Friday. "It's finished raining, but all night long there were terrible winds."

The governor of Camaguey province, Isabel Gonzalez Cardenas, said her area was "seriously affected," but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Cuban officials reported "significant damage."

More than a million people evacuated from vulnerable areas in Cuba.

In Florida, cities on both the east and west coasts of the peninsular state took on the appearance of ghost towns, as nervous residents heeded insistent evacuation orders affecting 5.6 million people.

The storm's forecast track has shifted slightly, so it now looks bound for Florida's west Gulf coast instead of the Atlantic coast, with landfall expected Sunday morning in the Florida Keys.

But Irma is so wide that authorities were bracing for destructive storm surges on both coasts and the Keys, the chain of low-lying islands that stretch south of Miami toward Cuba.

And hurricane-force winds are expected to lash the peninsula as it rolls north toward Georgia.

In Key West, police opened a "shelter of last resort" for those fool-hardy enough to ignore mandatory evacuation orders.

Flood-prone Miami Beach, also under mandatory evacuation order, has been emptied of people but is bracing for high waters.

"Nobody can be prepared for a storm surge. They can destroy everything," said David Wallack, a 67-year-old salsa club owner attempting to secure his property on the city's Ocean Drive.

"We just can pray for the best. You put what you can in a suitcase and hope."

Across the peninsula the Gulf coast city of Fort Myers also was battening down for Irma's screaming winds, rain and storm surge.

"This is a worst case scenario for our city. And our region," the city's mayor, Randall Henderson said on CNN. "We're taking it very seriously. We are prepared for it."

Warning that Irma would be worse than Hurricane Andrew -- which killed 65 people in 1992 -- Florida's governor said all 20.6 million Floridians should prepare to flee.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic snaked north out of the state, with mattresses, gas cans and kayaks strapped to car roofs.

Cuban-American Orlando Reyes, 82, was forced to flee his assisted living facility in Miami Beach.

"It is frightening," he told AFP at a shelter in Miami. "We had to leave without a cent, without taking a bath, or bringing anything."

The storm smashed through a string of Caribbean islands, beginning with tiny Barbuda on Wednesday, followed by the holiday islands of St Barts and St Martin.

Also affected were the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Turks and Caicos. The Bahamas were spared Irma's worst.

French state-owned reinsurer CCR estimated Irma had caused 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) worth of damage to homes, vehicles and businesses in the territories of Saint Martin and Saint Barts.

"Houses are smashed, the airport is out of action," St Barts resident Olivier Toussaint told AFP.

"Upside-down cars are in the cemeteries. Boats are sunk in the marina, shops are destroyed."

Meteorologists meanwhile were closely monitoring two other Atlantic storms.

Jose, another powerful Category 4 storm, was heading towards the same string of Caribbean islands Irma has pummeled in recent days.

The deteriorating weather grounded aircraft and prevented boats from bringing relief supplies to hard-hit islands.

Katia, which made landfall in eastern Mexico late Friday as a Category One hurricane, had weakened by Saturday to a tropical depression. Mexico reported two people killed by mudslides unleashed by the heavy rains.

The US military was mobilizing thousands of troops and deploying several large ships to aid with evacuations and humanitarian relief, as the Air Force removed scores of planes from the southern United States.

At least two people were killed in Puerto Rico, and many residents were without power.

Another four people were killed on the US Virgin Islands, with a number of badly injured people airlifted to Puerto Rico.

A child died in Barbuda, where 30 percent of properties were demolished and the entire island has been evacuated.

France said at least 10 people had been killed across its Caribbean territories, with seven more missing. There were 112 people injured, two seriously.

On the Dutch side of Saint Martin island, two people died.

In northwest Haiti, a motorcyclist was missing after trying to cross a flooded river and a number of roads were washed out. </s> Hurricane Irma strengthened and made landfall in Cuba as a Category 5 storm, as millions of Florida residents were ordered to evacuate after the storm killed 22 people in the eastern Caribbean and left destruction in its wake.

Irma struck Camaguey Archipelago on Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast packing 260km/h winds late on Friday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Category 5 is the NHC's most powerful designation.

Irma, one of the fiercest Atlantic storms in a century, was expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning, bringing massive damage from wind and flooding to the fourth-largest state by population.

The scenes along Cuba's coast were gradually coming to resemble horrors of other Caribbean islands over the last week as Irma barreled in for a direct hit at Ciego de Avila province around midnight.

READ MORE: Deaths and destruction as Hurricane Irma powers through

Choppy seas, grey skies, sheets of rain, bending palm trees, huge waves crashing over sea walls and downed power lines filled state-run television’s evening news cast.

Irma was forecast to bring dangerous storm surges of up to three metres on parts of Cuba's northern coast and the central and northwestern Bahamas.

Meteorologists warned that by Saturday morning, scenes of far greater devastation were sure to emerge as Irma worked her way along the northern coast westward through Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara provinces where it is forecast to turn northward toward Florida.

The area is home to pristine keys with more than 50 hotels and beaches.

Irma was about 485km southeast of Miami, the NHC said in its latest advisory.

With the storm barreling toward the United States, officials ordered an historic evacuation in Florida that has been made more difficult by clogged highways, gasoline shortages and the challenge of moving older people.

The United States has been hit by only three Category 5 storms since 1851, and Irma is far larger than the last one in 1992, Hurricane Andrew, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"We are running out of time. If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now. This is a catastrophic storm like our state has never seen," Governor Rick Scott told reporters, adding the effects would be felt from coast to coast in the state.

A total of 5.6 million people, or 25 percent of the state's population, were ordered to evacuate Florida, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

US President Donald Trump said in a videotaped statement that Irma was "a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential" and called on people to heed recommendations from government officials and law enforcement.

Irma was set to hit the United States two weeks after Hurricane Harvey, a powerful Category 4 storm, struck Texas, killing about 60 people and causing property damage estimated at up to $180bn in Texas and Louisiana.

Officials were preparing a massive response, the head of FEMA said.

About 9 million people in Florida may lose power, some for weeks, said Florida Power & Light Co, which serves almost half of the state's 20.6 million residents.

Amid the exodus, nearly one-third of all gas stations in Florida's metropolitan areas were out of gasoline, with scattered outages in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to Gasbuddy.com, a retail fuel price tracking service.

READ MORE: Irma heads to Florida, kills 22 across Caribbean

In Fort Lauderdale, most large grocery, hardware and supply stores were closed and do not plan to open until early next week, after the hurricane has passed.

A shelter in southwest Miami filled to capacity just hours after it opened its doors, with people there recalling Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the most destructive to ever hit the state.

Mandatory evacuations on Georgia's Atlantic coast and some of South Carolina's barrier islands were due to begin on Saturday. Virginia and Alabama were under states of emergency.

The governors of North and South Carolina warned residents to remain on guard even as the storm took a more westward track, saying their states still could experience severe weather, including heavy rain and flash flooding, early next week.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended slightly lower as investors braced for potential damage and massive insurance claims from Irma.

Many economists are predicting that third-quarter gross domestic product will take a hit due to the hurricanes.

As it roared in from the east, Irma ravaged small islands in the northeastern Caribbean, including Barbuda, St. Martin and the British and US Virgin Islands, flattening homes and hospitals and ripping down trees.

But even as they came to grips with the massive destruction, residents of the islands faced the threat of another major storm, Hurricane Jose.

Jose, expected to reach the northeastern Caribbean on Saturday, was an extremely dangerous storm nearing Category 5 status, with winds of up to 250km/h, the NHC said on Friday. </s> Hurricane Irma lashed Cuba as it roared toward Florida on Friday after hitting the eastern Caribbean with its devastatingly high winds, killing 21 people and leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake. Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, was expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning, bringing massive damage from wind and flooding to the fourth-largest state by population. A historic evacuation, including from areas around Miami, has been made more difficult by clogged highways, gasoline shortages and the challenge of moving older people in the top retirement destination.

The storm could regain strength and hit the Florida Keys as a Category 5 hurricane, the most powerful designation by the National Hurricane Center, with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour (258 km per hour). The United States has experienced only three Category 5 storms since 1851, and Irma is far larger than the last one to hit the United States in 1992, Hurricane Andrew, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“We are running out of time. If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now. This is a catastrophic storm like our state has never seen,” Governor Rick Scott told reporters, adding that the storm’s effects would be felt from coast to coast in the state. A total of 5.6 million people, or 25 percent of the state’s population, was ordered to evacuate Florida, the Associated Press reported, citing Andrew Sussman, the state’s hurricane program manager.

US President Donald Trump said in a videotaped statement that Irma was “a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential” and called on people to heed recommendations from government officials and law enforcement. In Palm Beach, Trump’s waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate was ordered evacuated.

Irma, currently a Category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph (250 kph), was about 315 miles (510 km) southeast of Miami, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory. After passing the Bahamas earlier in the day, Irma periodically drenched Cuba with rain and wind from the outer edge of the storm. Irma was forecast to bring dangerous storm surges of up to 20 feet (6 meters) to the southeastern and central Bahamas and up to 10 feet (3 meters) on parts of Cuba’s northern coast.

Cuba’s Communist government has traditionally made rigorous preparations when the island is threatened by storms, and the country was at a near standstill as Irma began to drive up the northern coast from east to west. Irma was forecast to move closer to land as it passed the center of Cuba later in the day and on Saturday, when it could seriously damage resorts on vulnerable keys. Tourists, and even the dolphins that entertain them, were evacuated. The storm was then predicted to veer north, sparing western Cuba and Havana.

In the Cuban fishing town of Caibarien, residents secured their roofs and moved belongings from low-lying coastal areas to houses higher up inland as the skies clouded over. Most said they were worried but well prepared. Residents in the central province of Camaguey hunkered down on Friday night for the arrival of the storm. “There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off and on, and the lights are out,” Anaida Gonzalez, a retired nurse, said by telephone.

Irma was set to hit the United States two weeks after Hurricane Harvey struck Texas, killing about 60 people and causing property damage estimated at up to $180 billion in Texas and Louisiana. Officials were preparing a massive response, the head of FEMA said. About 9 million people in Florida may lose power, some for weeks, said Florida Power & Light Co, the biggest power company in Florida serving almost half of the state’s 20.6 million residents.

Amid the exodus, nearly one-third of all gas stations in Florida’s metropolitan areas were out of gasoline, with scattered outages in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to Gasbuddy.com, a retail fuel price tracking service. In Miami-Dade County alone, Mayor Carlos Gimenez said authorities had asked about 660,000 residents to evacuate, adding that this was the largest evacuation he could remember in the county.

Supermarkets in Miami were full of shoppers picking up last-minute supplies and food, and long lines of cars wrapped around the few gas stations still open. People seeking shelter recalled Hurricane Andrew in 1992 as they braced for Irma. A shelter in southwest Miami filled to capacity just hours after it opened its doors. People packed into a gymnasium were thinking about the past while worrying about the future.

“I’m scared because it is bigger than Andrew,” said Ann Samuels, 49, as she arrived to the Robert Morgan Education Center. On the short trip from her home she said her mind went back to 1992 when Hurricane Andrew forced her and her two young children and eight others into a closet. “They say to not stress and not worry, but how can you not?” she added.

Steve Ortega, 29, decided to go home after peeking into the packed shelter. He was 5 years old when Andrew damaged his home. “I will never forget the noise. That … was the scariest thing I ever heard in my life,” adding he was worried but optimistic his home would remain standing through Irma. Mandatory evacuations on Georgia’s Atlantic coast and some of South Carolina’s barrier islands were due to begin on Saturday. Virginia was under a state of emergency.

The governors of North and South Carolina warned residents to remain on guard even as the storm took a more westward track, saying their states still could experience severe weather, including heavy rain and flash flooding, early next week. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended slightly lower as investors braced for potential damage from Irma as it moved toward Florida. Many economists are predicting that third-quarter gross domestic product will take a hit due to the hurricanes.

As it roared in from the east, Irma ravaged small islands in the northeastern Caribbean, including Barbuda, St. Martin and the British and US Virgin Islands, flattening homes and hospitals and ripping down trees. Even as they came to grips with the massive destruction, residents of the islands hit hardest by Irma faced the threat of another major storm, Hurricane Jose. Jose, expected to reach the northeastern Caribbean on Saturday, was an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 150 mph (240 kph), the NHC said on Friday.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> Hurricane Irma ploughed into Cuba's northern coast on Friday night (8 September), hitting the island with 160mph winds and heavy rain.

The Category 5 storm – the first to hit the island since 1924 – struck the Camaguey Archipelago after around a million people evacuated their homes.

It comes after the hurricane killed at least 21 people as it passed over the eastern Caribbean, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

As of early Saturday morning, the storm was still making its way across Cuba with the full extent of the damage unclear.

Choppy seas, grey skies, sheets of rain, bending palm trees, huge waves crashing over sea walls and downed power lines filled state-run television's evening news cast, Reuters reported.

"There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off and on, and the lights are out," Anaida Gonzalez, a retired nurse in the Camaguey province, told Reuters.

CNN reporter Patrick Oppmann, who has been live-tweeting about the storm while in Cuba, said the hurricane had given the island "holy hell".

"Water is half way up the 1st floor of house I am in. We should be fine, many others will not," he tweeted early Saturday morning.

With power out in many towns and villages on the island, Oppmann went on to describe watching in the pitch-black darkness as waves "roll down" a street he had walked along just a day before.

He added: "Irma is giving Cuba holy hell right now. Winds keep getting stronger."

Winds were so strong they even broke the country's meteorological equipment, he added.

Meteorologists warned that scenes of far greater devastation were likely to emerge as Irma worked her way along the northern coast westward.

It is then forecast to change direction and head north towards the US state of Florida, where a state of emergency has been called.

US authorities have ordered 5.6m people – more than 25% of Florida's population — to evacuate, with the storm set to hit the state on Sunday morning.

"This is as real as it gets. Nowhere in the Florida Keys will be safe. You still have time to evacuate," the US National Weather Service warned in a tweet. </s> On September 8, Hurricane Irma made landfall on Cuba as a destructive Category 5 storm, slowly spinning along its northern coast for hours, before turning north toward Florida. The high winds tore roofs from buildings, uprooted trees, toppled power lines, and blocked roads across central and northern Cuba. Coastal towns and cities were swamped by storm surge waters, leaving parts of Havana submerged as Irma moved on. More than a million residents and tourists had been evacuated ahead of the storm, as a precaution. As of Sunday night, there were no storm-related deaths reported in Cuba. </s> Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, killed eight people and plunged Puerto Rico into darkness on Thursday as it swept through Caribbean islands while aiming for Florida.

The dead were reported on four islands. Weather forecasters have described Irma as a "potentially catastrophic" Category 5 storm, the highest U.S. classification for hurricanes.

At least half of Puerto Rico's homes and businesses were without power early on Thursday, according to Twitter posts and a message posted by an island utility executive.

The dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda was especially hard hit. The northernmost island, Barbuda, home to roughly 1,800 people, was "totally demolished," with 90 percent of all dwellings there leveled, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said, according to island television broadcasts.

Browne said one person was killed on Barbuda. A second storm-related fatality, that of a surfer, was reported on Barbados. The French government said at least six people were killed in Caribbean island territories of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy. Power was knocked out on both.

"This is not, by far, a definitive number .... We have not explored all the parts of the island," Guadeloupe prefect Eric Maire told reporters, adding the death toll was likely to rise in the next few hours.

Early television footage of Saint Martin showed a devastated marina with boats tossed into piles, submerged streets and flooded homes.

"It is an enormous disaster, 95 percent of the island is destroyed, I am in shock," Daniel Gibbs, chairman of a local council, told Radio Caribbean International.

Irma, with top sustained winds of 180 miles per hour (290 km per hour), was on track to reach Florida on Saturday or Sunday, becoming the second major hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in as many weeks.

On its current path the core was expected to scrape the northern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday. It was also on a track that would put it near the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas by Thursday evening.

The NHC said it was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years.

While Irma's intensity could fluctuate and its precise course remained uncertain, the storm was expected to remain at least a Category 4 before arriving in Florida.
Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Cuba. The death toll across the Caribbean is at least 25 people, (CNN) (The New York Times)