Residents and visitors in Florida are being urged to evacuate as the massive, (now) Category 5 Hurricane Irma currently sustaining winds up to 175 mph is on track to hit the sunshine state.
Having already hit the Turks and Caicos Island and the Bahamas on Thursday, killing at least six people according to CNN, mandatory evacuation has been ordered for the Keys, parts of Miami-Dade and Broward County. There’s voluntary evacuation for other parts of Florida.
In preparation for Irma, fuel shortages are impacting Florida and gas prices are going up. Florida Governor Rick Scott has assured residents that he’s taking action to deliver gas to affected areas. In a statement on Thursday, Scott said, “we are aggressively working around the clock to bring more fuel to Florida gas stations.”
CNN reports that as of today [Friday, September 8th] three tanker ships arrived carrying 1.2 million gallons of fuel each and tankers are still getting police escorts to gas stations.
Georgia is also on the catastrophic hurricane’s path along with South Carolina and North Carolina, all of which have declared a state of emergency and Georgia has already ordered evacuations.
Directly behind Irma are two other intensifying hurricanes, Jose and Katia. Jose is currently a Category 3 hurricane forming in the eastern Atlantic and is sustaining winds of 120 mph with possible strengthening, come Friday. Katia, however, is currently a Category 1 hurricane in the southern Gulf of Mexico and it is expected to stay around that area.
