New Delhi:
Hurricane Irma, the most powerful category 4 storm barreled towards the Florida and set off a 11th-hour scramble for safety on Saturday after completing a devastating march along Cuba's northern coast.
It was expected to pass through Florida's southern archipelago on Sunday. Till Now, Irma has killed at least 22 people in the Caribbean, was considered a life-threatening danger to Florida as well.
It will likely inflict billions of dollars in damage in the third-most-populous U.S. state.
When Irma crashed into the Cuba it was Category 5 storm, but it was gradually weakened to a Category 3 storm as it rammed along the island's northern coastline.
According to the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC), maximum sustained winds stayed around 125 mph (201Kph).But it is expected to regain strength as it streams over warm waters south of Florida, NHC added.
The National Weather Service predicted a high rain of up to 25 cm to 51 cm over Florida and southeast Georgia through Monday. It is just a fraction of what Hurricane Harvey dropped on Texas and Louisiana two weeks ago which almost killed 60 people and caused property damage of an estimated US$ 180 billion.
Destruction in Cuba
As Irma barreled towards the Cuba, the destruction along the north central coast was almost on similar lines that saw on other Carribean islands over the last week.
High winds of Irma has toppled trees and utility polls or ripped apart roofs. Cubans passed through ankle deep water in Caibarien, a fishing town where streets were flooded and covered in seaweed.
Since 1932 this was the first storm which had made landfall in Cuba.
Irma has forced to evacuate nearly 6.3 millions people which are nearly about a third of the state's population. It also caused massive traffic jams on highways and overcrowding shelters.
“This was the strongest storm Caibarien ever had. It will take a while to recover from this, at least a few years,” said Risle Echemendia, 28.
