Officials in the Florida Keys have ordered visitors to evacuate the area Wednesday, as Hurricane Irma, which has intensified into a Category 5 storm, now seems likely to make landfall.
“If ever there was a storm to take seriously in the Keys, this is it,” said Martin Senterfitt, the emergency management director for Monroe County, which covers the Florida Keys, a popular tourist destination. “The sooner people leave, the better.”
The mandatory evacuation order for visitors is set to begin Wednesday morning at sunrise.
Monroe County officials later Tuesday issued a mandatory evacuation order for all residents, beginning Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Other areas of Florida are also bracing for Irma’s potential arrival. Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Tuesday that local officials could ask some of the county’s 2.7 million residents to begin evacuating as soon as Wednesday.
“This hurricane is far too powerful, poses far too great a threat for us to delay actions any further,” Gimenez said at a news briefing.
In addition, the public school districts in Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties announced they will close Thursday and Friday.
Tuesday morning, Florida Gov. Rick Scott asked President Trump to declare a pre-landfall emergency for the state of Florida.
Scott, a Republican, sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday requesting an emergency declaration to unlock federal resources for all 67 Florida counties. The governor also directed all 7,000 members of the Florida National Guard to report for duty Friday.
The National Hurricane Center declared Irma a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour as of Tuesday morning. The storm is expected to make landfall in Puerto Rico on Wednesday and is forecast to hit Florida later this week.
The National Hurricane Center’s forecast cone for the next five days includes nearly all of Florida south of Orlando.
