After much hide and seek, Hurricane Irma finally made landfall over Florida wreaking havoc over the region. The state has witnessed torrential rainfall with some areas witnessing torrential showers even more than 350 mm. Fort Pierce recorded the most amount of rainfall with Everglades National Park recording second most rainfall.
The strongest winds were witnessed in Naples as well as Marco Island where Hurricane Irma made two landfalls. While Naples recorded winds gusting up to 142 miles per hour and winds reached up to 130 mph in Marco Island.
The Godzilla hurricane has killed at least 5 in Florida alone while 27 lives have already been claimed in the Caribbean. After making landfall, Irma has reduced to a Category 2 storm. At least 6.5 million residents of Florida have been asked to evacuate while many residents continue to seek shelter in safer areas.
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Central Florida has also bore the brunt of the floods as the storm turned in a north-northeast direction. Currently, the eye of the Cat 2 Hurricane Irma is located about 50 miles east of Tampa Bay and is likely to cross Greater Orlando soon.
Tornados were also witnessed in Central Florida which caused significant damage to at least 18 mobile homes in Brevard County.
Strom surge warnings are in place for areas including Tampa Bay as well as many areas in South Florida. The only good news here is that the warning has been downgraded from a hurricane to a storm for some places.
However, Hurricane warnings remain in place for Fort Meyers, Tampa, Orlando, Cedar Key, and Jacksonville. As per weathermen, Irma will downgrade to a tropical storm during the next 24 hours.
Image Credit: cnn.com
