Worldwide exchange on cnbc, im sara eisen. Im wilfred frost irma has been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane the storm is packing sustained winds of 85 Miles Per Hour right now irma is 25 miles northwest of tampa nearly 5 million homes and businesses across florida were without power and some 12,000 flights have been canceled due to the storm. Weve got full Team Coverage of the monster storm cnbcs Contessa Brewer on the ground in fourt. Lauderdale. Jackie deangelis is standing by. Lets start with cnbc meteorologist david biggar. Good morning. Hurricane irma were watching it very carefully i wanted to show you what the track is still looking like. We have a category 1 storm it will continue to track up and along floridas western coast line weakens as it does so eventually becoming a Tropical Storm. Its eventually starting to shift from more of a wind producer to a rain producer. I wanted to show you the current wind field this is what it looks like right now. All of these colors, that
The roads will fill up quickly, so you need to go. Im a dad, and im a grandfather. I love my fathemily. I cant imagine life without them. Do not put yourself or your familys life at risk. Governor scott also taking to twitter asking for 1,000 volunteer nurses to help in special needs shelters. Florida is not the only state preparing for irmas wrath. Georgia governor nathan deal has ordered residents on the coast to start evacuating at 8 00 a. M. Some heeding that warning sooner, joining evacuees from florida on i75 towards atlanta. Irma proving already that it is powerful and deadly with at least 23 People Killed across the care baep island. Fierce winds up to 155 Miles Per Hour with storm surges up to 10 feet high expected. Now, downed power lines in puerto rico left nearly one Million People without power. Roofs were torn off buildings, and trees scattered across roads. Tr three died on that island. In haiti, the impoverished nation was left flooded. For many in the caribbean, the wo