Hurricane Irma pummeled the north coast of Cuba Saturday, inflicting “significant damage” as millions of people in the US state of Florida hunkered down for a direct hit from the monster storm.
Irma’s blast through the Cuban coastline weakened the storm to a Category Three, but it is still packing 125 mile-an-hour winds (205 kilometer per hour) and was expected to regain power before hitting the Florida Keys early Sunday, US forecasters.
At least 19 people have been killed since Irma began its devastating march through the Caribbean as a Category Five storm of nearly unmatched power, making landfall late Friday in Cuba on the Camaguey archipelago.