Afrasianet - Hurricane Irma, declared a major disaster by President Donald Trump, has made landfall in southwestern Florida, bringing high winds, heavy rains and flooding. Irma has already caused death and widespread destruction in the Caribbean. More than a quarter of Florida’s population has been ordered to evacuate.
• 11 September 2017
01:51 GMT
Good Samaritans rescued two manatees stranded in a bay near Whitfield in Manatee County, Florida. It is reported the animals found themselves stranded due to the same effect Hurricane Irma had on a bay in Bahamas, when water pushed away from the shore.
In a viral Facebook post, Marcelo Clavijo described the improvised rescue operation that took place after the two manatees were discovered in knee-deep mud in the dried up bay. Several people came to aid and the animals which were carried on a tarp some 200 yards (182 meters) to water, where they recovered and swam away. The post was shared more than 50,000 times at the time of writing.
• 01:16 GMT
American Airlines Group Inc said late on Sunday it will resume limited operations at its Miami International Airport hub on Monday evening, but it will take days before the airline returns to normal operations.
The Fort Worth, Texas, airline canceled all flights at the airport starting on Friday evening in anticipation of Hurricane Irma, along with flights at three other south Florida airports. All American flights remain canceled through Monday at 12 other Florida airports, as well as Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.
• 00:25 GMT
The first images and reports are emerging from Florida Keys, which had been under a blanket evacuation order and was directly in the eye of Irma's fury Sunday.
Juston Drake of Storm Riders posted photos of a road with asphalt peeled off, a destroyed car and fallen trees, saying that the “most extreme damage was from Sugarloaf Key to Marathon.”
“We had to dig and crawl our way out. Had to use the axe and pick up large pieces of debris to clear a path over multiple stretches of Hwy 1,” he tweeted.
With communications disrupted or non-existent, AP managed to get an SMS update on the situation from a Key Largo resident John Huston who decided to ride out the storm in his house.
“100 mph gusts. Small boats floating down the street next to furniture and refrigerators. Very noisy. I got 4 cars all underwater n still 1.5 hrs till hi tide,” Huston texted.
• 10 September 2017
23:50 GMT
Hurricane Irma knocked out power to more than 3 million homes and businesses in Florida on Sunday and threatened millions more as it moved up the state's west coast, local electric utilities said.
Full restoration of service could take weeks, they added.
• 23:32 GMT
• 23:07 GMT
Hurricane Irma’s eyewall, the location of the most extreme winds, is now passing above the city of Fort Myers. The hurricane continues to progress north up the Florida peninsula.
• 23:05 GMT
• 22:59 GMT
Rainfall is pounding the west coast of Florida. Tide measurements near the city of Naples have shown a 7 foot increase in 90 minutes, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“A NOAA tide gauge in Naples just measured a water level of 2.2 above mean higher high water, which is a 7 foot increase over the past hour and a half,” the NHC revealed in a statement at 6pm Florida time.
• 22:35 GMT
Florida’s Monroe County is off limits, according to the state highway patrol, at least until risk assessments on roads and bridges are carried out.