Airbnb, the giant vacation rental home marketing company, announced it is activating a disaster response program to provide free housing to Hurricane Irma evacuees and relief workers.
Hurricane Irma has made landfall on Marco Island, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Irma’s powerful eye roared ashore at Marco Island just south of Naples with 115-mph (185-kph) winds, for a second U.S. landfall at 3:35 p.m. Sunday.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn declared that a curfew will begin Sunday at 6 p.m. in Tampa, and will not be lifted until he and other city officials deem it safe after Hurricane Irma passes.
Announcing itself with roaring 130 mph winds, Hurricane Irma plowed into the mostly emptied-out Florida Keys early Sunday for the start of what could be a slow, ruinous march up the state’s west coast toward the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
A crane atop a high-rise building under construction collapsed Sunday in downtown Miami amid strong winds from Hurricane Irma – the first known crash of the two dozen such heavyweight hazards looming over the city skyline as the monster storm powers across the state. The crane collapsed and fell into the top of a building, said Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso. The bayfront area is filled with hotels and high-rise condo and office buildings, near AmericanAirlines Arena, where the NBA’s…
Hillsborough County officials said Sunday morning that people need to be in place now for what is likely to be a dangerous 20 hours or so with Hurricane Irma slowly moving up the coast of Florida. “There really is no time left,” County Administrator Mike Merrill told reporters at the Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center in East Tampa.
Hurricane Irma became tied for the seventh strongest storm to make landfall in U.S. history by a key measurement of atmospheric pressure. Hurricane Irma made landfall at Cudjoe Key at 9:10 a.m. with a minimum central pressure of 929 millibars. Atmospheric pressure is one of the major measurements meteorologists use to describe storms. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.