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Hurricane Irma hits west coast of Florida

| Updated: October 22, 2017 16:36:38


Irma hits west coast of Florida

Hurricane Irma is blasting up the west coast of Florida and bearing down on the city of Tampa in United States, with dangerous flooding along long stretches of coast.

 

It has been downgraded from category three to one but still has maximum sustained winds of 85mph (137km/h), reports BBC.

 

More than 3.4 million homes in the state are without power, and parts of the city of Miami are under water.

 

Three storm-related deaths have been reported and several areas have brought in curfews.

 

A wind gust of 96mph was reported in Clearwater Beach and one of 91mph recorded in Egmont Channel.

 

Irma cut a devastating track across 10 Caribbean countries and territories, killing at least 28 people there.

 

President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration and emergency federal aid for Florida, describing the hurricane as a "big monster".

 

"We may have been a little bit lucky in that it went on the west, and it may not have been quite as disruptive, but we're going to see, it's going to play out over the next five or six hours," he added.

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