With the new forecast, Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, ordered 260,000 people to leave. Irma has left more than 20 people dead in its wake across the Caribbean, ravaging such resort islands as St. Martin, St. Barts, St. Thomas, Barbuda and Antigua. Though the center is expected to miss Miami, the metro area will still get pounded with life-threatening hurricane winds, Feltgen said. Nearly 25,000 people had lost power, mostly in the Miami area, as the wind began gusting. The Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports shut down, and those in Orlando and Tampa planned to do the same later in the day.

Source: ABC News September 09, 2017 05:15 UTC