Following Hurricane Irma in English (Updated Monday)
We will be giving regular updates on the storm here, but you can easily follow the news coverage on your own. As of Monday morning our time, Irma was still moving north through Florida, but it had lost strength.
We will be giving regular updates on the storm here, but you can easily follow the news coverage on your own. As of Monday morning our time, Irma was still moving north through Florida, but it had lost strength.
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Following Hurricane Irma in English
We will be giving regular updates on the storm here, but you can easily follow the news coverage on your own. Try it. It an exciting way to practice your English. Also, watch as our vocabulary list at the bottom of the page grows. Many of the words you will see again in other stories about storms.
Current time in Miami, Florida
The Florida Keys and Key West are at the bottom of the map. Miami is on the lower East Coast and Tampa is about halfway up the West Coast. http://www.nationsonline.org/maps/USA/Florida_map.jpg
Above is a map that should be useful over the next two days.
Live Television
Here in Thailand, CNN is following the storm live, but through the internet you can actually go to the affected areas in Florida and watch live coverage on local TV. In most cases, you will first see a short advertisement, but then you will see the broadcast as viewers in Florida are seeing it.
Here are four channels to start with from Miami and Tampa. Miami, Florida's largest and most famous city, is already being hit by the storm's outer bands, but it will likely not feel the Irma's full force. Tampa, on the other hand, may be hit by the storm's eye, putting it in severe danger of catastrophic flooding. The local announcer told Tampa viewers they have almost a 100 percent chance of losing electricity tomorrow.
A reporter from Miami's Channel 6 is buffeted by heavy winds. The worst is yet to come, however.
Miami
Tampa
News reports
A storm surge has inundated parts of downtown Miami. REUTERS/Stephen Yang
10:35am Monday, Thailand time; 11:35pm Sunday, Florida time
MIAMI (AP) – Hurricane Irma gave Florida a coast-to-coast pummeling with winds up to 130 mph Sunday, swamping homes and boats, knocking out power to millions 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 was nearing the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area late Sunday, though in a much-weakened state. While it arrived in Florida a Category 4 hurricane, by nightfall it was down to a Category 2 with winds of 100 mph (160 kph). Meanwhile, more than 160,000 people waited in shelters statewide as Irma headed up the coast.
There were no immediate reports of deaths in Florida. In the Caribbean, at least 24 were people were killed during Irma's destructive trek.
Bryan Koon, Florida's emergency management director, said late Sunday that authorities had only scattered information about the storm's toll, but he remained hopeful.
``I've not heard of catastrophic damage. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It means it hasn't gotten to us yet,'' Koon said.
A fallen tree blocks a street in a business district as Hurricane Irma passes through Naples, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
8:45am Monday, Thailand time; 9:45pm Sunday, Florida time
Before crashing into Florida, Hurricane Irma set all sorts of records for brute strength as it flattened Caribbean islands and swamped the Florida Keys. Irma's assault – so soon after Harvey's deluge of Houston – marked the first time the U.S. was hit by two Category 4 storms in the same year.
Irma hit the Sunshine State as a big wide beast, though not quite the monster it once was shaping up to be. Earlier, it was the most powerful recorded storm in the open Atlantic. But as the once-Category 5 storm neared the U.S. mainland, it lost some oomph after running into the northern coast of Cuba.
Winds dropped to a quite potent 115 mph (185 kph) by the time Irma made landfall on Marco Island, on the Florida peninsula, still a major and dangerous hurricane yet not near its 185 mph (297 kph) former self when it set a record Tuesday for the most powerful storm in the open Atlantic. And on top of that, Irma avoided what could have been its most destructive paths along the Florida peninsula – over Miami and the heavily developed Atlantic seaboard. Still, at about 400 miles (640 kilometers) wide, it raked much of the state with devastating storm surge, destructive winds and drenching rains.
People walk along a street in South Beach as Hurricane Irma arrives at south Florida, in Miami Beach, Florida, U.S., September 10, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
20:45 Sunday, Thailand time; 09:45 Sunday, Florida time
Landfall on the Florida mainland is still some hours away but the Florida Keys has now been hit.
AP – The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of the massive hurricane made landfall on Cudjoe Key in the lower Florida Keys at 9:10 a.m.
People wait in the cafeteria for their named to be called as a Red Cross volunteer (L) gives out room assignments at a shelter within the Pizzo Elementary School in Tampa, Florida, September 9, 2017, where Tampa residents are fleeing the evacuation zones ahead of Hurricane Irma's landfall.
18::55 Sunday, Thailand time; 7:55 Sunday, Florida time
Weather Underground
If you are watching the coverage of Hurricane Irma on CNN, the situation looks really bad, particularly in the Miami area. Actually, the eye of the storm is still hours away, so things will be getting much, much worse. At the moment the eye is close to hitting the outer islands of Florida, known as the Florida Keys.
AFP – Hurricane Irma's eyewall slammed into the lower Florida Keys Sunday, lashing the island chain with fearsome wind gusts, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The eye of the Category 4 storm was 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Key West as of 7:00 am local time (1100 GMT), bringing maximum sustained winds of 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour and threatening dangerous storm surges.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation!" the National Weather Service in Key West had warned, urging those who had not heeded dire warnings to evacuate to take shelter "now to protect your life!"
The hurricane was moving 13 kilometers (eight miles) per hour northwest, with Florida's west coast cities of Naples, Fort Myers and the densely populated peninsulas of Tampa Bay in its crosshairs.
15:00 Sunday, Thailand time; 4:00 Sunday, Florida time
How big is Hurricane Irma?
Weather Underground
At about 2:30pm our time, Irma was affecting almost the whole state of Florida all the way done through Cuba. Florida is about one-third the size of Thailand, so just imagine what it would like on top of a Thai map.
14:30 Sunday, Thailand time 3:30am Sunday, Florida time
Hurricane Irma has finally started to move north. At 3am local time, the eye of Irma was still several hours away from Key West, but the winds were already well above 100kph.
AFP – Hurricane Irma regained strength Sunday as it began pummeling Florida, threatening almost the entire southeastern US state after cutting a deadly path of destruction through the Caribbean.
The storm, packing of winds of 130 mph (210 kph), was upgraded to a Category 4 storm as it closed in on the island chain known as the Florida Keys, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Its eye was expected to cross the Lower Florida Keys within hours before moving "near or along" the peninsular state's west coast, where it threatened storm surges of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) – enough to cover a house.
10:25am Sunday, Thailand time, 11:45 pm Saturday in Miami, Florida
"Put on a helmet"
The hurricane is taking a long time going along the coast of Cuba, but forecasters expect it to start its northward turn towards Florida soon. A CNN meteorologist has just told viewers in harm's way to stay inside away from windows and to wear shoes and, if possible, put on a motorcycle or American football helmet. Keep bathtubs full of water he says.
From the US National Hurricane Center.
The times on the graphic are 11 hours behind our time in Thailand. You will be hearing/reading a lot about the Florida Keys in the next 12 hours or so. They are a group of Florica islands that will be hit first. They are located just about where the first "M" is in the above map.
9:45am Thailand time
HURRICANE IRMA ABOUT 105 MILES (170 KM) SOUTHEAST OF KEY WEST WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS 125 MPH (205 KPH)- NHC
MIAMI (AP) – Hurricane Irma hammered Cuba and marched toward the Florida Keys on Saturday with punishing winds and rain. Irma was expected to regain strength over warmer waters before hitting the Keys on Sunday morning. The storm left more than 20 people dead in the Caribbean.
Authorities asked more than 6 million people in Florida and Georgia to evacuate before Hurricane Irma's storm surge and fierce winds make leaving – or rescuing – impossible. But some around Florida are choosing to stay.
It's looking more likely that the eye of powerful Hurricane Irma will strike the Keys, southwestern Florida and the Tampa Bay region. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm is expected to strike the Sunshine State as a dangerous Category 4 storm. But Irma is so large that even if the eye is to the west, places such as the Miami metropolitan area – will get dangerous winds and water.
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