ABC News(KEY WEST, Fla.) — Hurricane Irma is set to make landfall in the Florida Keys on Sunday morning as powerful winds and rain pummel the area, leaving at least three people dead in the state.
As of 8 a.m., the storm’s eye was 20 miles east-southeast of Key West, Florida, and 110 miles south of Naples.
The National Weather Service also warned Florida residents that being in the eye of a hurricane can lead to a false sense of security.
IF winds go calm, you’re in the eye. Stay inside! Winds dramatically shift and will do so violently! STAY INSIDE!
— NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) September 10, 2017
As Florida braces for the worst of the powerful Category 4 storm’s impact, at least three deaths were reported in the state.
A man in Monroe County, which encompasses Key West, was killed after he lost control of a truck that carried a generator as winds whipped at tropical-storm strength, local officials said.
Two other people died in a car crash in the rain in Hardee County, Florida, which is about 60 miles inland from Sarasota, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The death toll from the hurricane in the Caribbean, meanwhile, has risen to 22, bringing the total number in Irma’s path who have died to at least 25.
As the monster storm neared, approximately 6.3 million Floridians were under evacuation orders. When evacuation orders in South Carolina and Georgia are included, the number climbs to 6.8 million.
More than 100,000 people are in shelters, while others are hunkered down in their homes bracing for the storm’s impact. By around 8:30 a.m., at least 782,000 households and businesses were without power. In Miami-Dade County alone, more than 456,000 had lost power.
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