Hurricane Irma hits South Florida, wind gusts over 200 km/h

More than 190,000 homes in Florida were left without power on Saturday night to Sunday, and Hurricane Irma, approaching the US mainland, brought strong winds with tornadoes and heavy rains.

  According to the energy company and residents of the Florida Keys, 29,000 of them are also without power, and a power outage is expected to affect more than a million residents by the end of the day. Florida is home to 20 million people.

The National Meteorological Service reported that hurricane-force winds, with speeds of 120 kilometers per hour, reached the Florida Keys.

Governor Rick Scott said on Saturday evening that he expects sea levels in the area of the southwestern city of Naples to rise by 4.5 meters and cause floods, and that 25 to 50 liters of water per square meter could fall on the peninsula, while the Florida Keys could record 63 liters of water.

The hurricane has gained strength and is now Category Four on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum wind gusts of 209 kilometers per hour.

The US National Hurricane Center issued a warning that a "deadly storm" will hit the Florida Keys, a small chain of islands in South Florida, as well as the west coast of the state.

Tens of thousands of residents of Florida, which has a low elevation, have moved to hundreds of shelters across the state, and evacuation orders cover 6.3 million people. The evacuation has clogged the main roads leading north from Florida, Hina reports.

Irma is currently a Category Three hurricane with winds up to 195 kilometers per hour, but forecasters expect it to strengthen on its path from Cuba to Florida.

The hurricane is expected to move along the southwestern coast of Florida during Sunday, strengthened to Category 4, and hit major cities like Fort Myers and Tampa.

The hurricane, whose front is wider than 200 kilometers, is approaching the US coast at a speed of 11 kilometers per hour and is expected to make landfall before dawn.

Irma, one of the strongest hurricanes in this part of the world ever, caused great devastation in the Caribbean islands it hit when it had its greatest strength and was Category 5. It has so far claimed at least 24 lives.

(Vijesti.ba)