Officials: 90% of homes in Florida Keys damaged or destroyed by Irma
The death toll from Hurricane Irma stood at 47 by midday Tuesday. At least 35 people were reportedly killed across the Caribbean islands. In the U.S., 12 deaths were reported in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
Follow along for updates (all times EDT):
7:00 p.m.
Two days after Irma made landfall on Cudjoe Key, authorities and a few residents were finally able to reach some of the Florida Keys on Tuesday.
What they found was devastating: Based on initial estimates, 25% of the houses on the chain of islands have been destroyed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday. Another 65% suffered major damage.
"Basically, every house in the Keys was impacted some way," FEMA Administrator Brock Long said.
It's still not clear how many casualties Irma caused on the Keys.
5:00 p.m.
Flood and coastal flood warnings continue across parts of Florida.
Irma continues to weaken as light to moderate scattered showers continue across the lower Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio Valley.
4:00 p.m.
Trump signed the "Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Hurricanes Irma and Jose Overseas Act," which increased federal aid for repatriated U.S. citizens from the Health and Human Services Department to $25 million.
3:45 p.m.
Authorities have sent an aircraft carrier and other Navy ships to aid search-and-rescue operations amid reports of wide devastation in the hurricane-battered Florida Keys. 65 percent of homes in the Keys sustained major damage, 25 percent destroyed.
People across the island shared by Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin were trying to rebuild the lives. The Dutch Red Cross said there were still more than 200 people listed as missing on St. Maarten, and more than 90 percent of buildings were damaged.
Most commercial airports in Florida are open although hundreds of flights are still being canceled or delayed as the state recovers.
2:49 p.m.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump will go to Florida on Thursday to survey damage left by Hurricane Irma.
12:30 p.m.
Florida바카라 게임 웹사이트s largest utility says much of the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s east coast could have power back by Sunday, but other areas could take 10 days or more.
Rob Gould, vice president and chief communications officer for Florida Power & Light, said Tuesday that the utility expects to have power on for most customers along the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s eastern coast by the end of this weekend.
Gould said it would take until the end of Sept. 22 to restore power along the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s western coast where the damage was much more severe. He did say that some areas hit by tornadoes or flooding may take longer.
FPL says that 2.8 million homes and businesses are without power throughout its service area as of Tuesday.
Utility officials say they have nearly 20,000 workers helping with the restoration effort. FPL says it has gotten crews from as far away as Canada to California.
11:30 a.m.
The remnants of Irma toppled trees and power lines in Alabama, leaving thousands without electricity, but didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t appear to cause major damage.
Alabama Power Co., the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s largest provider of electricity, reported that on Tuesday morning that 20,000 households and businesses were without power. The power outages were concentrated in the eastern portion of the state.
Irma, at tropical storm status, pelted the state with cold rain and wind gusts as high as 45 mph on Monday. Rains and wind began to dissipate on Tuesday.
Several school systems remained closed on Tuesday after official announced two days of closures ahead of the storm바카라 게임 웹사이트s approach.
10:30 a.m.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday, FEMA officials said that 90 percent of the homes in the Florida Keys have been damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Irma.
The state of Florida is attempting to pick up the pieces left behind by Irma. Gov. Rick Scott says that all highways and turnpikes in the state are back open, after having been closed during the storm.
Power is slowly being restored to residents. One million homes affected by the outages now have their lights back on.
9 a.m.
Jacksonville sheriff바카라 게임 웹사이트s officials said on Twitter that 356 people were rescued from flooding on Monday as Hurricane Irma moved over Florida.
And they tweeted some advice for them: 바카라 게임 웹사이트We hope the 356 people who had their lives saved yesterday will take evacuation orders seriously in the future.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Sheriff바카라 게임 웹사이트s officials also said that all bridges leading into downtown Jacksonville have re-opened.
They noted that many roads are still blocked or flooded Tuesday morning and motorist are urged to treat intersections without working red lights as four-way stops.
8:00 a.m.
Officials in the upper Florida Keys are allowing residents and business owners to return after Hurricane Irma.
People were able to return to Monroe County as of 7 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
In a Facebook posting, Monroe County officials said a yellow re-entry sticker or proof of residency or business ownership will be required.
County officials said a roadblock will be put around mile marker 74, where part of U.S. 1 was washed out by Hurricane Irma, which slammed into the state Sunday as a Category 4 storm. A road crew is expected to begin repairs Tuesday.
Officials warned returning residents that there are limited services available. Most areas are still without power and water and cellphone service is limited. Most gas stations in the Key Largo area are still closed.
Crews are working to clear U.S. 1, the only road that runs north/south through the Florida Keys.
County officials also said Mariners Hospital in Tavernier was expected to reopen Tuesday morning
7:35 a.m.
More than 1.2 million customers in Georgia are without power after Irma swirled into the state.
Georgia Power will be starting to assess damages on Tuesday. The utility company says much of the state including coastal Georgia and metro Atlanta experienced the most outages after parts of the state received widespread damage caused by high winds and heavy rainfall.
Georgia Power says Fulton County currently has the most outages with 105,390.
By early Tuesday, Georgia Power has nearly 800,000 outages and EMC has around 466,000 customers without power.
The Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has resumed service Tuesday, but limited routes. The transportation company will have rail service running in 20-minute intervals.
6:15 a.m.
In Irma's aftermath, Gov. Rick Scott warned the biggest threat this week will be river flooding in the northern part of the state.
Although rainfall stopped in Jacksonville Monday afternoon, the water began rising and washing into downtown.
The governor said on Monday that Jacksonville experienced 3 to 5 feet of surge, plus one foot of rainfall, which is causing "record and historical flooding along St. Johns River."
Irma turned Jacksonville's Memorial Park into an unrecognizable lake.
6:00 a.m.
The airport for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has re-opened Tuesday morning after closing as Hurricane Irma pounded the state.
Operations at the airport resumed at 4 a.m. EDT, but a check of the airport바카라 게임 웹사이트s website Tuesday morning showed many flights still canceled.
Meanwhile, the Miami International Airport said in a tweet that it will resume operations on a limited basis Tuesday. But the airport said passengers should contact their airlines to check on flight status before coming.
Six deaths in Florida have been blamed on Irma, which first hit the state Sunday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane.
5:30 a.m.
Massive power outages remain throughout the Southeast. These figures are as of Tuesday morning:
- Alabama: 23,000 customers were without power, according to Alabama Power.
- Florida: 6.2 million customers, according to . This represents over 59% of all power company accounts in the state, the Florida Division of Emergency Management said.
- Georgia: More than 1.4 million customers, according to and .
- North Carolina: More than 166,000 customers, according to Duke Energy
- South Carolina: 233,000 customers, according to Duke Energy and SCE&G.
2:15 a.m.
Florida residents have begun to dig out in hurricane-scarred Florida and officials are slowly piecing together the scope of Irma바카라 게임 웹사이트s vicious path of destruction across the peninsula.
The fate of the Florida Keys, where Irma rumbled through with Category 4 muscle, remains largely a question mark. Communication and access were cut and authorities dangled only vague assessments of ruinous impact.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott called the storm 바카라 게임 웹사이트devastating바카라 게임 웹사이트 after emerging from a Monday fly-over of the Keys.
A Navy aircraft carrier was due to anchor off Key West to help in search-and-rescue efforts.
The governor described overturned mobile homes, washed-ashore boats and rampant flood damage.
Six deaths in Florida have been blamed on Irma, along with three in Georgia and one in South Carolina. At least 35 people were killed in the Caribbean.
11:30 p.m.
As Jacksonville, Florida, grappled with record storm surge, the level of the destruction became more apparent in the hard-hit Florida Keys at the southern tip of the state.
Areas without water, power or communications are likely to remain so for some time.
Irma flooded portions of River Street in the tourist magnet city of Savannah, Georgia, and forced police to temporarily shut Highway 80 leading to the barrier island community of Tybee Island. Water also filled The Battery, the downtown Charleston neighborhood where the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet. Charleston police asked residents to avoid downtown in anticipation of high tide.
Waters in Charleston Harbor peaked at nearly 10 feet high, the city's third-highest reading, topping Hurricane Matthew in 2016, said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.
10:35 p.m.
Irma has weakened to a tropical depression, and heavy rainfall is continuing across the southeastern U.S., according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is continuing to move farther inland and is approaching the Georgia-Alabama border, a hurricane center forecaster says.
Intense rainfall rates are leading to flash flooding and rapid rises on creeks, streams, and rivers, according to the hurricane center.
9:15 p.m.
Authorities say a Florida man appears to have been electrocuted by a downed power line following Irma.
Winter Park police spokesman Garvin McComie says officers responded Monday morning following reports of a man lying in the roadway.
The officers determined that 51-year-old Brian Buwalda was dead at the scene. A medical examiner will determine an official cause of death, but McComie says it appears to be an accident.
Winter Park is in Orange County, just of Orlando.
The storm has been blamed for more than 40 deaths, including six in Florida, three in Georgia and one in South Carolina.
8 p.m.
A woman in Georgia died when a tree fell on a vehicle in a private driveway, according to the website of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.
The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.