Florida suffers coast-to-coast battering from 130mph Irma
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Hurricane Irma has pummeled Florida from coast-to-coast with winds up to 130mph, flooding homes and boats, knocking out power to millions of people and toppling massive construction cranes over the Miami skyline.
The 400-mile-wide (640-kilometer-wide) storm blew ashore in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys, then marched up its western coast, its punishing winds extending clear across to Miami and West Palm Beach on the Atlantic side.
Irma, which has killed at least 28 people after pushing through the Caribbean, was considered a life-threatening danger in Florida as well, and could inflict a natural disaster causing billions of dollars in damage to the third-most-populous US state.
Hurricane Irma – devastation caused in pictures
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While Irma raked Florida's Gulf Coast, forecasters warned that the entire state was in danger because of the sheer size of the storm.
In one of the largest US evacuations, nearly seven million people in the Southeast were warned to seek shelter elsewhere, including 6.4 million in Florida alone.
Residents and holidaymakers were ordered to stay indoors until the storm had passed, with many Brits left holed up in apartments or hotel rooms.
About 30,000 people heeded orders to leave the Keys as the storm closed in, but an untold number refused, in part because, to many storm-hardened residents, staying behind in the face of danger is a point of pride.
fter leaving Florida, a weakened Irma is expected to push into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and beyond. A tropical storm warning was issued for the first time ever in Atlanta, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the sea.
President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for Florida, opening the way for federal aid.
Irma is continuing its slog north along Florida's western coast after having blazed a path of unknown destruction.
With communication cut to some of the Florida Keys, where Irma made landfall on Sunday, and rough conditions persisting across the peninsula, many are holding their breath for what daylight might reveal.
Boris Johnson has defended the Government's response to Hurricane Irma, insisting that criticism of its reaction to the "biggest consular crisis" the country had faced was "completely unjustified".
The Foreign Secretary faced claims that the UK had done less to evacuate its citizens than other nations and did not have the correct equipment in place to deal with the catastrophe in the Caribbean.
Mr Johnson said there had been an "unprecedented" effort to deal with the aftermath of the biggest storm in the region since records began.
On BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Johnson was challenged about claims from the father of a stranded Briton that the Government's response had shown a "callous disregard" to its citizens.
Geoffrey Scott Baker, whose daughter Amy Brown is on Saint Martin, said: "Nothing is happening.
"It seems that everybody can airlift their citizens out except for the UK who are doing absolutely nothing on the ground."
He said his daughter was at risk from looters targeting her resort and added: "The British response has been absolutely pitiful, it's just sheer incompetence, callous disregard for our British citizens."
Mr Johnson responded that Saint Martin was controlled by the Dutch and French who had been evacuating people in accordance with their medical need.
"Some British nationals actually have been evacuated from Saint Martin," he said.
"This is a very big consular crisis and I am confident we are doing everything we possibly can to help British nationals."
Defending the UK's preparedness for the disaster, Mr Johnson said: "It doesn't make any sense when a hurricane is impending to send in heavy aircraft or to send in ships that are not going to be capable themselves of withstanding the storm.
"The French had to ask us for assistance later on because we had got the right sort of kit there.
"If you look at what is happening now you can see an unprecedented British effort to deal with what has been an unprecedented catastrophe for the region."
Dutch search and rescue experts are heading to the shattered former colony of St Martin to support the humanitarian relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.
A team of 59 urban search and rescue experts is flying Monday to the Dutch territory that's home to some 40,000 people, where 70 per cent of homes were badly damaged last week by a direct hit from the Category 5 storm. Four people were killed and dozens injured.
The Dutch government also is sending extra troops to maintain order following widespread looting and robberies.
The government says there are already nearly 400 extra troops in the island, also known as St Maarten, and that number will rise to some 550 over the next two days.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander is expected to visit the island today to show his support for local residents and the emergency services working to restore infrastructure and begin the process of reconstruction.
Hurricane Irma is getting weaker as it moves over the western Florida peninsula.
It has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with winds near 85mph (135kph).
Additional weakening is forecast and Irma is expected to become a tropical storm over northern Florida or southern Georgia later in the day.
But much damage has already been done, as Irma hit Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, hammering much of the state with roof-ripping winds, gushing floodwaters and widespread power outages.
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