September 8, 2017

USA: 'Get Out Now!' Hurricane Irma Threatens Historic Disaster for Florida. Florida Governor Urges People In Irma's Path To Get Out: 'We can't save you'.


Breaking News: Hurricane Irma update. Florida Gov. Rick Scott update Hurricane Irma September 8, 2017 at 11:30am PST/2:30pm EST

CBN News
written by Charlene Aaron
Friday September 8, 2017

Hurricane Irma has weakened slightly to a Category 4 storm, but it's still extremely dangerous and is now on track to make a direct hit on Florida early Sunday morning.

The storm is packing sustained winds of 150 mph with gusts as high as 190 mph, and it could wreak havoc for Florida after it hits the Turks and Caicos islands today and then heads to the Bahamas.

At least 20 people in the Caribbean have been killed already.
As Irma moves within striking distance of south Florida, Gov. Rick Scott is warning people to follow evacuation orders. Roughly 850,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes and the state says 6,000 are already huddling in emergency shelters.

Hundreds of thousands of Floridians have fled the state, clogging its major highways, but Scott says traffic officials decided not to reverse the direction of southbound lanes because gas and supplies must still move south.

Scott is stressing the powerful storm could be a historic disaster.

"Remember Hurricane Andrew is one of the worst storms in history of Florida. This storm is much worse," Scott said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long has this advice for people in Irma's path: "Get out" now!

Georgia's Gov. Nathan Deal is urging more than half a million state coastal residents to evacuate before Irma hits.

Irma is likely to move up along the east coast of Florida, with a potential threat to Georgia and the Carolinas, after doing serious damage throughout islands in the Caribbean.

Irma is the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.

With 185-175 mile per hour winds, it devastated small northern Caribbean islands like Saint Martin and Barbuda.

Here's what Irma did to St. Martin. This amazing footage from the storm shows residents trying to rescue people trapped in a flipped-over bus. It comes about halfway through:

Gaston Brown, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said the country has been decimated.

"It was the worst time in all my life. I would not like to see a hurricane like this again," one island resident said.

"We were praying the whole time," one island visitor said, standing next to her injured friend in the hospital.

In Puerto Rico, Irma left nearly a million people without power and it could be four to six months in some areas before its restored.

And here in the U.S., the National Weather Service warns that some "locations hit by Irma could be uninhabitable for weeks or months" due to powerful winds, and that "structural damage to buildings, with many washing away" is possible in some coastal areas.

Major preparations are underway along the East Coast. In addition to Florida, the governors of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina have declared states of emergency.

Residents are boarding up homes, grabbing dwindling supplies of bottled water, and battling fuel shortages seeking to get out of harms way.

"There's no gas there's no water at the grocery stores. They have security guards and police at Home Depot, the waiting for plywood down there it's crazy," one North Carolina woman said.

But Florida is the main state in Irma's path where huge numbers of people are evacuating and getting ready for the monster storm.

And CBN's Operation Blessing has been stocking up for its relief and humanitarian aid as well.

OB already has dozens of tractor trailer loads of water and food at its warehouse in Ocala, Florida, and has been in contact with Florida pastors they've worked with over the years as it prepares to help those who will need it in Irma's aftermath.

Meanwhile, Operation Blessing continues to aid the flooded residents in Harvey's aftermath in Texas.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 11:25 AM

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