Hurricane Irma: Florida braces as deadly storm prepares to hit

• Hurricane Irma is moving towards southern Florida with sustained winds of 125mph
• Its outer bands will pound the entire state but its eye will barrel up the southwest coast until Monday.
• It will then make landfall in Tampa as a Category 3 storm and brings severe flooding and storm surge threats
• The storm has already claimed at least 24 lives across the Caribbean
• 6.3million people have been told to leave their homes
• 54,000 people are already in evacuation shelters in Florida and Georgia which are filling up
• 'You're on your own': FEMA chief told residents who ignored warnings to flee
• Experts have warned that 'catastrophic' and 'life threatening' storm surges could reach 15ft
• There will be winds of up to 137mph as the storm barrels up towards Tampa and brings up to 15 inches of rain
• There are tropical storm conditions expected across the entire Florida Peninsula as a result of Irma
• The hurricane's path veered west on Saturday morning to the relief of Miami which was in store for a direct hit

Florida's Governor Rick Scott has said "the storm is here" as the outerbands of Hurricane Irma start to lash the state's southern tip and warned "our state has never seen anything like it".

Governor Scott said time is fast running out for 6.3 million Americans ordered to flee Hurricane Irma and warned them to take shelter immediately or "you will not survive".

"If you have been ordered to evacuate, leave now - not tonight, not in an hour, now," Governor Scott told residents. "This is a deadly storm and our state has never seen anything like it."

He said about 50,000 Floridians have taken shelter so far.

The warning came as Irma shifted its deadly course toward Florida's west coast.

Early forecasts had Hurricane Irma striking Florida's south east capital of Miami hardest, but overnight the storm moved slightly west and is now forecast to strike Florida's west coast, with Tampa and Fort Meyer bearing the brunt before Irma powers inland.

Tampa's Mayor Bob Buckhorn said overnight: "It is not looking good for us."

Florida Governor Scott imposed a curfew of between 7pm and 7am in Miami to stop opportunistic looters taking advantage of abandoned homes and shops.

Irma is forecast to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane early on Sunday morning (6am local time/10pm Sunday NZ time), but has currently been downgraded to a Category 3.

Even before the hurricane strikes, huge storm surges of up to 3.6m are predicted to overwhelm hundreds of kilometres of coastline home to six million people.

Many businesses in Orlando were closed, with owners working to put up plywood and storm shutters.

Miami consultant Nina Cohen said she didn't hesitate to evacuate her Coral Cables home when Irma started churning. She and thousands of other Miami residents had headed north to pack Orlando's hotels.

"I haven't seen anything like this, and I have lived in Florida 40 years," said Ms Cohen, who had to rebuild her home after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

"We all went through Andrew, lost homes, and this is looking worse than Andrew ever did."

Ms Cohen's friend's Shirley Crane and her husband Bo travelled north with her and yesterday said they hoped it wasn't a decision they would regret. "It's hard to know the right thing to do, but we didn't feel safe in Miami," Mrs Crane said.

"But ask us next Wednesday if it was the right call - then we'll know for sure."

Irma hit Cuba late on Friday as a Category 5 hurricane, its violent gusts destroying the instrument used to measure wind strength, Cuba's meteorological agency reported.

Rough seas flood a seawall on the eastern end of Nassau, Bahamas, Saturday, Sept 9, 2017, as Hurricane Irma moves along the coast of Cuba. (AP Photo/Tim Aylen)

At least 25 people were killed even before Irma hit Cuba, leaving entire islands in ruins.

And a new danger lays on the horizon to the east: Hurricane Jose, a Category 4 storm with 150mph (241km/h) winds that could punish some of the devastated areas all over again this weekend.

Also, the governor of the Mexican Gulf coast state of Veracruz reported two deaths related to the arrival of Hurricane Katia, which has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Governor Miguel Angel Yunes says the two died in a mudslide in a country still reeling from the strongest earthquake to hit Mexico in a century, which killed at least 61 people.

In one of the largest mass evacuations ever undertaken, more than 6.3 million Americans have been ordered from their homes, with police yesterday driving door-to-door and warning over loudspeaker that anyone who stayed was "on their own".

Irma will bring sustained wind gusts of more than (157mph) 252km/h, which can easily destroy buildings, rip up roads, topple power lines and cripple infrastructure.

Widespread flooding is also expected, but not at the same levels with which Hurricane Harvey tormented Texas last month.

It's a tense time in Florida as even hardened storm survivors confront what US President Donald Trump yesterday described as an event "of epic proportion, perhaps bigger than we have ever seen".

"Be safe and get out of its way, if possible," he tweeted.

RESIDENTS STOCK UP ON FOOD, PETROL, WATER

Fuel is scarce as millions clogged highways headed north. Those who didn't try to flee by car filled shelters, set up in schools, churches, even speedways.

Supermarkets across the state have been bled dry of non-perishable food and water. At Walmart in Orlando yesterday, there was no water available and entire shelves of tinned food were stripped - leaving only pickled clams and lumpfish caviar behind.

"It's been crazy in here the past couple days," said cashier Andria Franklin, a lifelong Orlando resident.

"Usually people here don't pay much attention to hurricanes because they happen a lot. But people were scared by what happened in Houston and so they seem to be taking this one a lot more seriously."

A woman and child use a blanket as protection from wind and rain as they walk in Caibarien, Cuba, Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. Photo / AP

The theme park capital of Orlando in central Florida is slightly inland so isn't normally too badly battered in hurricane season as the storms lose strength as they travel over land.

Yesterday several of the city's famous theme parks closed down and the spires of the Disney castle were taken down for protection.

FLORIDIANS TOLD TO GET OUT NOW

At twice the size of the entire state, Irma is so big that Governor Rick Scott said yesterday "all Floridians should be prepared to evacuate".

Nancy Maldonado said she chose to flee her Edgewood, Miami, home ahead of an evacuation order because she was scared one of the six construction cranes nearby could topple.

Storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on the British island of Anguilla on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. Photo / AP

"I haven't been able to sleep for days," said Ms Maldonado, 36, who headed north to Pompano Beach Friday.

"This storm has seemed like it was going to swallow us. But now we are safe in a house with hurricane shutters, so we will ride it out here."

For those who chose to stay-out the storm, authorities had stark warnings that no emergency services would be available in dozens of mandatory evacuation zones in parts of Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and along the state's low-lying coastline. They said nobody was safe in the Florida Keys, a string islands to the south west of the mainland and where first landfall was predicted.

"It's not a question of if Florida's going to be impacted, it's a question of how bad Florida's going to be impacted and where the storm ends up," said William Long of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The FEMA boss said anyone who thought they had lived through other devastating storms such as Andrew in 1992 (one of only two hurricanes to make landfall as a category 5 after Camille in 1969) didn't understand Irma's potential.

Mr Long said Irma was "a threat that is going to devastate the United States, either Florida or some of the southeastern states," and he warned residents in states from Alabama to North Carolina to be prepared.

"I can guarantee you that I don't know anybody in Florida that's ever experienced what's about to hit South Florida," Mr Long said.

By Sarah Blake in Orlando, Florida, with Wires