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| (Photo: Nicole Raucheisen, Naples Daily News) |
TALLAHASSEE — Irma weakened to a
tropical storm early Monday after hammering much of Florida with
roof-ripping winds and gushing floodwaters and that left more than half
the battered state without power.
The
storm had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, the National Hurricane
Center said. As of 8 a.m. ET, Irma was centered more than 100 miles
north of Tampa.
Florida's State Emergency Response
Team said 58% of electric customers in the state — about 5.8 million
accounts — were without power. Utilities warned that it could take weeks
to fully restore electricity to the state's 21 million people.
The
storm's first landfall in Florida took place on the Keys early Sunday,
but by Monday two airports appeared ready to accept planes stocked with
relief supplies for the stricken islands.
Florida
Division of Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon said Monroe County
officials have not yet been able to travel the length of the island
chain to access the storm's toll. County crews spent Sunday clearing the
airport on Boca Chica Key, and a team hoped to have another airport in
Marathon ready to accept large military planes ferrying relief supplies,
Koon said.
“As
we assess the situation, the appropriate resources will start being put
on the island,” Koon said. “There will be commodities to help support
shelter operations.”
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| The eye of Hurricane Irma passes through Naples, Fla. (Photo: David Goldman, AP) |
The
center of Irma will continue to move over the western Florida peninsula
through Monday morning and then into the southeastern United States
late Monday and Tuesday. Additional weakening is forecast, and Irma is
expected to become a tropical storm over far northern Florida or
southern Georgia on Monday.
Storm surge will be a
concern. Florida's east coast is expected to get 3 to 5 feet of surge
brought onshore by Irma's winds. Areas in the lower Keys got 10 feet and
Naples has seen several feet, but an exact number hasn't been reported
yet, National Hurricane Center acting Director Ed Rappaport said.
Irma
is projected to be completely gone from Florida by Tuesday
morning. FlightRadar24 tracking maps late Sunday revealed that there was
not a single flight in the sky over the Sunshine State, which usually
boasts a bustling airspace befitting a tourism mecca.
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| A FlightRadar24 tracking map reveals that there isn't a plane in the sky over Florida (Photo: FlightRadar24) |
It
was a far cry from the pre-Irma exodus that occurred in the days
leading up to the monster storm's arrival in Florida, on the heels of a
brutal march through the Caribbean that left at least 20 dead and left
some islands virtually uninhabitable.
On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration told the New York Times
its air traffic control center in Miami, which handles only flights
over the southern half of Florida and the Caribbean, had managed 8,107
flights compared to about 2,000 the week before.
Concern
that the storm’s powerful winds could weaken the dyke around Lake
Okeechobee led Gov. Rick Scott to evacuate nearby communities. A test of
the dyke by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers showed no apparent damage.
The Corps will perform another test on Monday before they deem the
structure safe, Koon said.