Tony Meredith is a kiwi in Miami who shot the flooding footage on a balcony of a building on Brickell Ave, 7 floors up. / Tony Meredith
Florida last night remained braced for storm surges and flooding as the giant Hurricane Irma continued its path of destruction up the state.
The monster storm arrived in the sunshine state with winds over 200km/h. The entire peninsula was due to be raked by its right front quadrant - the part of a hurricane that usually brings the worst weather.
By 2am local time wind speeds had slowed to 217km/h, a category 1 storm. But authorities warned slower winds didn't lower the risk of storm surges and flash flooding.
The gales had done their damage in Miami, uprooting trees, ripping off roofs and snapping construction cranes like twigs. Rising floodwaters turned the eerily empty city's streets into rivers and power was knocked out to millions of people.
State leaders asked people to pray for everyone in Florida as tens of thousands sought shelter in stadiums.
Tornadoes added to the misery, destroying mobile homes in Palm Bay, hundreds of kilometres away on the Atlantic coast.
Curfews were imposed across much of South Florida, and police made several arrests for looting.
By last night three people had died in weather-related road accidents in Florida. Among them were a prison guard and a police officer whose vehicles collided head-on in the Palm Beach evacuation zone.
The National Hurricane Centre warned storm surges could be as high as a one-storey house. The powerful storm sucked the water away from parts of the shoreline, stranding two manatees that had to be dragged back out to sea by rescuers.
Floodwaters cover part of 3rd Ave in Dania Beach, Florida. Photo / AP
Power was cut to more than three million Florida homes and businesses, making it impossible for many to check on their loved ones and the damage to their property.
Authorities last night warned of likely deaths and a "humanitarian crisis" in the Florida Keys, where the 640km-wide storm blew ashore on Sunday morning (local time). The Keys were pounded by brutal category 4-force winds and floodwaters were hip-deep.
Kiwis caught in the devastating hurricane were sheltering as best they could.
Sue Hamer took cover in a makeshift bunker as the eye of the storm passed her city. Violent winds howled outside and slammed into her home's steel window shutters.
Another Kiwi, Caryn Haynes, hunkered down with friends in Fort Lauderdale.
Backyards in her neighbourhood had been swamped by an adjacent canal while the front road was inundated by flooding.
"We're not doing too good," she said. "Our street front is a river."
Haynes was riding out the storm with neighbours, playing cards and looking after her retriever, Kiwi.
Another New Zealander, Anna Wilding, said the situation was diabolical with coconuts raining down on the roof like cannonballs.
