Gusty winds batter Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma landfall

Irma made landfall as a Category Five storm in Camaguey Archipelago on Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast late on Friday.

After leaving at least 25 people dead in the Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma battered Florida knocking out power across the southern tip of the state ahead of its landfall in the US. Even though the hurricane's eye is not expected to hit Florida until Monday, powerful gusts of 74 mph were recorded.

Irma made landfall as a Category Five storm in Camaguey Archipelago on Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast late on Friday.

Tens of thousands of Floridians were hunkering down in shelters for a direct hit from the monster storm, after more than 6.3 million -- nearly a third of the state's population -- were ordered to evacuate.

"If you have been ordered to evacuate anywhere in the state, you need to leave right now. Not tonight. Not in an hour. Now. You are running out of time to make a decision," Governor Rick Scott said hours before wind gusts began to lash the island chain known as the Florida Keys.

The storm was expected to move along or near Florida's southwest Gulf coast by today afternoon. 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, a PTI report said.

In addition to thousands of federal employees, several thousand-military personnel have been deployed by the Department of Defence to meet any eventuality in the aftermath of Irma hitting the coast of Florida.

OneIndia News