HAVANA: 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 258 kilometres per hour (160 miles per hour).
The United States has experienced only three Category 5 storms since 1851, and Irma is far larger than Hurricane Andrew — the last one to hit the United States in 1992, 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 (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 water-front Mar-a-Lago estate was ordered evacuated.
Irma — currently a Category 4 storm with winds of 250 kph (155 mph) — was about 510 kilometres (315 miles) 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 forecasted 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 centre of Cuba later in the day and on Saturday when it could seriously damage resorts on vulnerable keys.
Tourists and 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 at 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 240 kph (150 mph), the NHC said on Friday.