President Trump approves major disaster declaration in state, fourth largest in US
Hurricane Irma Sunday afternoon made a
second landfall in Florida as the full force of the storm began
pummeling the state's Gulf Coast with deadly storm surge and torrential
downpours.
After the first landfall in
the Florida Keys earlier Sunday, the eye of the storm traveled up to hit
Marco Island, while at the same time rattling high-rises in Miami and
inundating Naples.
Irma, once a
top-tier Category 5 storm that destroyed the Caribbean, lost strength
and was downgraded to Cat. 2 as it moved north into the U.S. mainland,
with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (168 kmh).
However,
officials continued to sound warnings that the real danger posed by the
hurricane came in the form of storm surge, abnormal and extremely rapid
rises in water levels.
"The threat of
catastrophic storm surge flooding is highest along the southwest coast
of Florida, where 10 to 15 feet of inundation above ground level is
expected," the National Hurricane Center said in a statement. "This is a
life-threatening situation," it added.
The
hurricane triggered mass evacuations of historic proportions, with more
than six million people asked to flee in Florida and the neighboring
states. Nearly five million Floridians are without power, according to
Florida Power & Light officials.
President
Donald Trump Sunday afternoon approved a major disaster designation for
the state of Florida, making full federal assistance available for
emergencies as well as when the eventual hard work of recovery begins.
Irma
devastated the Caribbean, leaving entire islands uninhabitable and
causing at least two dozen deaths, before churning over Cuba and moving
up to the continental U.S.
The storm is
expected to travel northward in Florida to Ft. Meyers Sunday night and
Tampa early Monday. Even as its strength dwindles due to repeated
landfalls, forecasts show heavy downpour affecting much of Florida until
Friday.
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