(Eagle News) – Category 4 Hurricane Irma is now “headed for the Southwest Florida Coast” as of 11 a.m. EDT (11 p.m. Philippine time) with maximum sustained winds of about 130 miles per hour, and the winds will still “continue to increase,” according to the latest update from the United States’ National Hurricane Center.
An hour earlier, at 10 a.m. EDT Sunday, September 10,NHC said that Irma’s eye is now “beginning to move away from the Lower Florida Keys.”
Irma’s northern eyewall reached the Lower Florida Keys as of 7 a.m. EDT Sunday.
NHC 11 a.m. forecast said: “IRMA HEADED FOR THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA COAST… …WINDS CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER SOUTH FLORIDA… As of 11:00 AM EDT Sun Sep 10 the center of Irma was located near 25.0, -81.5 with movement N at 9 mph. The minimum central pressure was 933 mb with maximum sustained winds of about 130 mph.”
“Life-threatening wind and storm surge from Irma will continue in the Florida Keys and southwestern Florida today and spread into central and northwestern Florida tonight and Monday. Preparations in central and northwestern Florida should be rushed to completion,” the NHC’s latest advisory said.
“There is imminent danger of life-threatening storm surge flooding along much of the Florida west coast, including the Florida Keys, where a Storm Surge Warning is in effect,” it said.
-Life threatening situation still, says NHC
NHC maintained that it is still a “life threatening situation” saying that 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.”
“Irma will bring life-threatening wind impacts to much of Florida regardless of the exact track of the center,” it said.
“Wind hazards from Irma are also expected to spread northward through Georgia and into portions of Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina,” NHC warned in its 11 a.m. forecast discussion.
The NHC also warned of “very heavy rain and inland flooding across much of Florida and many other parts of the southeast United States.”
It said rainfall, of up to 2 to 4 inches per hour, “will lead to flash flooding and rapid rises on creeks, streams, and rivers.”
“Significant river flooding is likely over the next five days in the Florida peninsula and southeast Georgia, where average rainfall of 8 to 15 inches and isolated 20 inch amounts are expected,” it said.
The NHC said that Irma should maintain its intensity “until the center reaches the southwest Florida coast.”
It said that it will then “begin to weaken while the system interacts with the landmass of the Florida peninsula.”
At 7 a.m. Florida time (7 p.m. Philippine time) Sunday, Sept. 10, hurricane Irma’s eyewall slammed into the lower Florida Keys Sunday, lashing the island chain with fearsome wind gusts.
The eye of the Category 4 storm was 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Key West as of 7:00 am local time (1100 GMT), bringing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour and threatening dangerous storm surges.
“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation!” the National Weather Service in Key West had warned, urging those who had not heeded dire warnings to evacuate to take shelter “now to protect your life!”
The hurricane was moving eight miles per hour northwest, with Florida’s west coast cities of Naples, Fort Myers and the densely populated peninsulas of Tampa Bay in its crosshairs.
Irma was upgraded to a Category 4 storm hours earlier as more than six million Floridians had been ordered to evacuate their homes ahead of the monster storm.
For those people still at home, it was too late to escape the wrath of what could be the worst hurricane in storm-prone Florida.
In Key West, police had opened a “shelter of last resort” for those who had ignored mandatory evacuation orders.
“It’s going to be horrible,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said of Irma on NBC television Sunday morning.
“Now we have to hunker down and watch out for each other.”
-430,000 homes, businesses without power-
More than 430,000 homes and businesses were without power across the state, mainly in southern Florida, according to utility company Florida Power and Light.
NHC said that “significant river flooding is also possible beginning Monday and Tuesday in much of eastern and central Georgia, western South Carolina, and western North Carolina, where average rainfall of 3 to 8 inches and isolated 12 inch amounts are expected.”
“Mountainous parts of these states will be especially vulnerable to flash flooding. Farther west, Irma is expected to produce average amounts of 2 to 5 inches in parts of Alabama and Tennessee, where isolated higher amounts and local flooding may occur,” it said.
Irma smacked the Keys 57 years to the day that Hurricane Donna hit the same area in 1960, destroying nearly 75 percent of the island chain’s buildings.
(Eagle News Service, with Agence France Presse)