Hurricane Irma could have hit Florida harder had it not slammed Cuba and weakened in the final stages before approaching the Sunshine State. While still a dangerous and potent hurricane, Irma’s winds dropped to 115 mph as it made landfall in Florida. It was wiped.”“This is obviously not the worst case scenario for Florida overall,” he added, noting that “it would have been much worse” had Irma hit Florida 20 to 30 miles to the east. Despite the weakened hurricane, Masters suggested Irma will become among the five most costly hurricanes in the country’s history – behind 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, 2012’s Sandy and this year’s Hurricane Harvey that hit Texas and Louisiana. It also is the first Category 5 hurricane to hit Cuba in a century, despite being often hit by hurricanes.

Source: Fox News September 11, 2017 08:48 UTC