Irma weakens to tropical storm in Florida: forecasters Hurricane Irma: What we know

Irma weakens to tropical storm in Florida: forecasters

AFP / SAUL LOEBA fallen tree toppled by Hurricane Irma blocks a street in downtown Miami, on September 11, 2017

Irma weakened early Monday to a tropical storm as it continued on a northward path through Florida, the National Hurricane Center said.

However, it was still producing "some wind gusts to near hurricane force."

As of 8 am (1200 GMT), Irma was about 105 miles (170 kilometers) northwest of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (110 kilometers per hour).

Early reports of Irma's aftermath seemed to show that damage in Florida from the massive storm were not as bad as initially feared.

Television footage showed trees down and buildings with exterior damage, though people were able to make their way through muddy or lightly flooded streets.

The storm had carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean last week, where it was blamed for at least 27 deaths.

It slammed into the Florida Keys island chain as a powerful Category Four storm on Sunday. Irma was linked to three deaths in Florida.

Hurricane Irma: What we know

AFP / SAUL LOEBA total of 6.3 million people were told to leave their homes in Florida

Hurricane Irma has weakened but continued a furious climb up the Florida coast on Monday, toppling cranes, swallowing streets and leaving millions without power, after a multi-billion-dollar rampage through the Caribbean. At least 30 people have been killed since last week.

The storm was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, after striking the Florida Keys island chain as a more powerful Category 4 on Sunday. But warnings of hazardous storm surges remained in effect through vast swaths of the Florida peninsula.

Maximum sustained winds had decreased to 75 miles (120 kilometres) per hour as of 5:00 am local time (0900 GMT).

While southwest Florida bore the deadly brunt of Irma, the eastern coastlines of Miami and the barrier island of Miami Beach were heavily inundated by storm surges.

- Toll from Irma -

The death toll is at least 30: 14 in the French island of St Barts and the neighbouring Dutch-French territory of St Martin; six in the British Caribbean islands; at least four in the US Virgin Islands; at least two in Puerto Rico; and one in Barbuda. Three other deaths occurred in Florida due to car accidents sparked by strong winds and torrential rain.

More than four million customers were without power throughout Florida, according to the state's Division of Emergency Management.

More than six million people had been ordered to flee their homes in one of the biggest evacuations in US history.

The combined economic cost of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma could reach $290 billion, equivalent to 1.5 percent of the US gross domestic product, US forecaster AccuWeather said in a report.

- Barbuda -

Irma first made landfall on the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda on Wednesday as a Category 5 hurricane, with winds of up to 295 kph. The island suffered "absolute devastation," with up to 30 percent of properties demolished, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.

One person is known to have died on the island of 1,600 residents, apparently a child whose family was trying to get to safer ground.

- St Martin, St Barts and Anguilla -

The holiday islands of St Martin and St Barts, also hit on Wednesday, suffered the highest toll among Caribbean victims of Irma.

St Martin is divided between France and the Netherlands. France said 10 people had died on its side of the island, while the Netherlands said the storm killed four on the Dutch side, called Sint Maarten, where 70 percent of the infrastructure has been destroyed.

France's state-owned reinsurer CCR estimates damage on the two islands at 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

France and the Netherlands are rushing in logistical support, as well as hundreds of extra police to clamp down on looting.

French aid includes helicopters, engineering equipment, medical supplies and a million litres (265,000 gallons) of water, as the three water-treatment plants will be knocked out for months.

French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive in St Martin on Tuesday. Dutch King Willem-Alexander is to visit the Dutch side, called Sint Maarten on Monday.

AFP / YAMIL LAGEAuthorities in Cuba said they had evacuated more than a million people

In the British archipelago of Anguilla, one man was crushed to death in a house collapse.

- Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico -

Five people were killed in the British Virgin Islands, according to the local government.

Just east of Puerto Rico, it is home to roughly 28,000 people and includes British billionaire Richard Branson's Necker Island.

At least four people were killed in the US Virgin Islands, officials told AFP.

At least two people were killed in the US territory of Puerto Rico, and more than half of its three million residents were without power after rivers broke their banks in the centre and north of the island.

- Dominican Republic, Haiti -

Some 20,000 people were evacuated and more than 2,000 homes affected by floods in the Dominican Republic, the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola, which is also shared with Haiti.

AFP / AFPHurricanes

Irma brought flooding and caused injuries in Haiti, but passed further north than had been forecast, sparing the impoverished island the worst.

- Cuba -

Terrified Cubans who rode out Irma in coastal towns -- after it made landfall Friday on the Camaguey archipelago as a maximum-strength Category 5 storm -- reported "deafening" winds, uprooted trees and power lines, and rooftops blown off.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Cuba but it caused significant damage, and enormous waves lashed the Malecon, Havana's emblematic seafront, with seawaters penetrating deep into the capital.

Residents in the old colonial city were waist-deep in floodwaters after Irma cut power and forced the evacuation of more than a million people.

- Irma: Where next? -

Forecasters expect Irma will become a tropical storm later Monday, but warnings of hazardous storm surges persisted in several areas even after the worst of its ferocity had passed.

The massive storm's center was forecast to move near the northwestern coast of Florida before crossing into the state of Georgia later into Monday.

The National Hurricane Center cautioned that tornadoes remained possible in northeast Florida as well as southeast parts of Georgia and South Carolina into the evening.

A state of emergency has been declared in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, as well as in Florida.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would go to Florida "very soon" to assess relief efforts.

- Hurricanes Jose, Katia -

Hurricane Jose, after strengthening to Category 4 status, passed 135 kilometres (83 miles) north of St Barts and 125 kilometres from Saint Martin late on Saturday, despite earlier fears the islands would suffer a second storm within days.

The US National Hurricane Center on Monday reported Jose was "weakening" and was "expected to linger over the western Atlantic for several days."

With maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, it was located about 255 miles (410 km) northeast of Grand Turk Island.

AFP / Lionel CHAMOISEAUThe holiday islands of St Martin and St Barts suffered the highest toll among Caribbean victims of Irma
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A third hurricane, Katia, made landfall in eastern Mexico late Friday killing two people, just as the country grappled with the deaths and damage inflicted by its worst earthquake in a century.