MIAMI (AP) – Hurricane Irma gave Florida a coast-to-coast pummeling with winds up to 130 mph Sunday, swamping homes and boats, knocking out power to millions and toppling massive construction cranes over the Miami skyline.
The 400-mile-wide (640-kilometer-wide) storm blew ashore in the morning in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys, then began a slow march up the state’s west coast, its punishing winds extending clear across to Miami and West Palm Beach on the Atlantic side.
Irma was expected to hit the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area early Monday, though in a much-weakened state. While it arrived in Florida a Category 4 hurricane, by nightfall it was down to a Category 2 with winds of 105 mph (177 kph).
“Pray, pray for everybody in Florida,” Gov. Rick Scott said on “Fox News Sunday” as more than 160,000 people statewide waited it out in shelters.
There were no immediate confirmed reports of any deaths in Florida in addition to the 24 people killed during Irma’s destructive trek across the Caribbean.