Hurricane Irma is slamming southern Florida with calamitous force as the storm's eyewall reaches the Florida Keys Sunday morning, says a report on CNN.
Irma packed winds of 130 mph as it prepared to lash much of Florida. As of 7 a.m. ET, the hurricane's eye was about 15 miles southeast of Key West, the National Hurricane Centre tweeted.
"It's going from crappy to worse," said John Hines, who did not evacuate and stayed in his home in the Key West, at the southern end of the island chain that stretches off the tip of the Florida peninsula.
Hines said there's some flooding outside his house, but from the rain, not the storm surge.
"All the interior doors are starting to rattle now, sounds like someone is knocking on the front door," he said. "The winds are picking up. It's only going to get worse as it gets closer."
trash and debris is washed ashore in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on September 7.
Almost the entire state of Florida is under a hurricane warning affecting at least 36 million people, with concerns of devastating gales, heavy rain and life-threatening storm surge.
Those who did not evacuate ahead of the storm are in danger, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said Saturday.
"You're on your own until we can actually get in there and it's safe," said he.
"The message has been clear: The Keys are going to be impacted. There is no safe area within the Keys. And you put your life in your own hands by not evacuating."
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