By The Associated Press The Latest on Hurricane Irma (all times local) :
The Latest on Hurricane Irma (all times local) :
4 p.m.
France’s government is sending hundreds more soldiers and police to restore order to the Caribbean island of St. Martin amid looting and chaos after Hurricane Irma.
The government also told all residents to stay inside and put the island and nearby St. Barts on its highest alert level as a new storm, Hurricane Jose, bears down on the area.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Saturday night that France is sending Foreign Legion troops, paratroopers and other reinforcements to St. Martin starting Sunday.
France already has several hundred gendarmes, soldiers and other security forces but Philippe acknowledged that they are working in difficult conditions and need help.
St. Martin saw several people killed and vast damage to homes, electricity and water supplies.
The broadcaster Francetvinfo reported Saturday that the island’s jail was also destroyed and its 250 inmates are now at large.
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3: 30 p.m.
Many Florida families say online retailers let them down at the worst possible moment with cancellations and no-shows ahead of powerful Hurricane Irma even before the weather deteriorated.
The Associated Press has received more than 50 complaints from South Florida families who were expecting flashlights, battery-operated radios, water bottles and first-aid kits after placing orders with online retailers.
Customers said on Saturday that they received the cancellations only after evacuations had begun in their neighborhoods and local markets’ shelves had emptied. Some had placed orders as early as Monday.
Other said their packages arrived in Miami but were either stuck at a sorting facility for a few days or delayed because of problems with couriers.
A Nestle-owned water delivery company, ReadyRefresh, apologized on Twitter for service disruptions and delays.
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3 p.m.
More than 50,000 people in Florida are seeking shelter in schools, community centers and churches as Hurricane Irma nears the state.
The government-sponsored shelters were open Saturday as officials warned 6.3 million Floridians to evacuate. The storm was expected to make landfall in Florida on Sunday. Those with nowhere to turn headed to the shelters while others sought lodging at hotels or with friends and family.
Red Cross shelter coordinator Steve Bayer said most people at shelters are grateful and happy.
Steve and Judith Smith of Orlando fled their mobile home and wound up at their local middle school after all the nearby hotels were sold out.
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2: 50 p.m.
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is relaxing pollution controls for emergency and backup power generating facilities in the Florida Keys’ Monroe County to help keep power generated during and after Hurricane Irma.
The agency on Saturday announced its decision in a press release after a request by Florida environmental officials.
The “no action assurance” letter will allow two utility-scale units in the county to operate beyond their typical operating periods.
The EPA said the extra operation may increase pollution, but that the decision is in the public interest given the emergency.
“EPA policy allows the agency to issue no action assurances in cases where it is necessary to avoid extreme risks to public health and safety and where no other mechanism can adequately address the matter, ” the agency’s release said.
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2: 20 p.m.
Forecasters expect winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph) from Hurricane Irma to smack the Florida Keys around daybreak Sunday.
Irma was lingering over the northern Cuba coast on Saturday. Its forward speed has slowed to 9 mph (15 kph) and it has yet to make the expected big northward turn toward Florida yet. Its maximum sustained winds were 125 mph (205 kph) .
The U. S. National Hurricane Center’s latest forecast – which still can change a bit and has a margin of error of dozens of miles – projects Irma’s potent eye to make three landfalls into Florida.
First, there’s a projected Sunday morning hit in the Lower Keys. Then later, after moving over water, Irma is expected to come ashore around Cape Coral or Fort Myers. From there it is predicted to steam inland go over the highly populated Tampa Bay region.
After Tampa, Irma is projected to briefly go back out to the Gulf of Mexico and then hit north of Homosassa Springs for a third landfall. In the following days, Irma is forecast to head through Florida and Georgia into Tennessee.
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2 p.m.
The White House says President Donald Trump and his Cabinet are receiving regular updates on Hurricanes Irma and Jose as they meet at the Camp David presidential retreat.
Elaine Duke, the acting homeland security secretary, is scheduled to provide a full briefing to the president and the rest of his team.
The White House adds that Trump and first lady Melania Trump are keeping everyone who has been affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in their thoughts and prayers. They’re also urging the public to closely follow safety advice from local authorities.
The president and first lady invited all Cabinet members and their spouses to the Maryland retreat for the weekend.
Besides hurricane briefings, the White House says Trump also planned to lead a discussion of the administration’s priorities.
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1: 50 p.m.
French ministers have decided to step up security on the Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts that were hit hard by Hurricane Irma and are now facing the approach of Hurricane Jose.
On Friday, looting and gunshots were reported on St. Martin, and a curfew was imposed there and in St. Barts until Wednesday.
According to a statement Saturday, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb is sending two extra gendarme squadrons and some 150 soldiers. They will be there to strengthen checkpoints, reassure the public and prevent further looting and chaos.
One hundred firefighters are also being sent to the islands.
The statement also said that a tanker with water is being sent for residents without clean running water.
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1: 25 p.m.
Cuban officials say Hurricane Irma has damaged crops in the rural eastern part of the country.
Civil Defense official Gergorio Torres tells reporters that authorities are still trying to tally the extent of the damage in Las Tunas province and nearby areas. He said damage seems to have been concentrated in infrastructure for crops including bananas.
Eastern Cuba is home to the island’s poor, rural population. Once known for sugarcane and other crops, the agricultural industry was declining even before the hurricane.
Video images from northern and eastern Cuba show utility poles and signs uprooted by the storm and many downed trees as well as extensive damage to roofs. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
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12: 55 p.m.
Georgia is bracing for potentially far-flung impacts from Hurricane Irma, which could swamp the coast with storm surge and topple trees and power lines in Atlanta.
The National Hurricane Center placed the entire Georgia coast under a hurricane watch Saturday as residents packed their cars and trickled onto the highways in six counties under a mandatory evacuation. A hurricane watch was also issued for the South Carolina coast from the Georgia line to Edisto Beach, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Charleston.
Irma’s center is forecast to enter southern Georgia far inland Monday and plow northward as a tropical storm or depression. Emergency officials expect tropical storm winds to reach Georgia’s coast, where storm surges could be amplified by unusually high tides.
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12: 45 p.m.
The Dutch government estimates 70 percent of houses on St. Maarten were badly damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Irma. That leaves many of the 40,000 residents reliant on public shelters as they brace for Hurricane Jose.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said Saturday that Jose is forecast to track northwest of St. Maarten and will likely dump a lot of rain on buildings, many of which had roofs torn off by Irma.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the situation remains “grim” on the island where widespread looting has broken out.
Rutte says there are some 230 Dutch troops and police patrolling St. Maarten and a further 200 will arrive in coming days. Rutte issued a warning to looters that the troops and police will clamp down hard to end the lawlessness.
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12: 30 p.m.
Florida’s governor is issuing urgent warnings to a third of his state’s residents to evacuate ahead of a massive hurricane on track to be the state’s most catastrophic ever.
Gov. Rick Scott says the entire west coast of Florida will likely see dangerous affects from storm surge as Hurricane Irma comes ashore Sunday. About 6.3 million of the state’s approximately 21 million residents have been asked to evacuate.
During a Saturday news conference, he told those in evacuation zones: “You need to leave – not tonight, not in an hour, right now”
Scott said that the storm surge is expected to be up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) in some areas along the west coast of Florida. In the Tampa Bay area, Scott said the storm surge could be between 5 feet (1.5 meters) and 8 feet (2 meters) .
Scott said: “This is the most catastrophic storm the state has ever seen.”
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11: 50 a.m.
Florida emergency management officials have asked another 700,000 to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Irma. That brings the total number asked to evacuate multiple states to nearly 7 million.
Florida’s Division of Emergency Management said Saturday that officials have issued a mix of mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders to 6.3 million residents. The number rose overnight as the predicted path of Hurricane Irma has shifted west. It’s likely to come ashore Sunday.
The size and trajectory of the storm has prompted officials to order evacuations along both coasts of Florida, including some of the state’s population centers. Florida is the nation’s third largest state with nearly 21 million residents.
