Nearly five million people in Florida woke up without power on Monday, after a weaker-than-expected Hurricane Irma rumbled further inland overnight, lashing the sunshine state from coast to coast.
The still-dangerous storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday, was downgraded to a Category 1 early Monday before tapering into a tropical storm.
Many are breathing a sigh of relief. But authorities are insisting residents remain where they are safe and not venture outside to assess Irma’s destructive toll while high winds, floodwaters, downed powerlines, and debris continue to pose serious risks.
Retired Toronto police officer Tim Burrows is among the estimated 9,000 Canadians that Global Affairs Canada says are in the Irma-affected region, 350 of whom had requested assistance as of Sunday.
Burrows told CTV’s Your Morning that the booming noises of mature trees snapping under the weight of strong winds made for a sleepless night for his family inside their Apopka, Fla. home, just north of Tampa.
“You could hear what sounded like explosions without that loud Hollywood after-effect sound,” he said. “It’s been a nerve-wracking 24 hours. Even now, the winds are still really, really strong.”
Irma pushed about 170 kilometres north-northwest of Tampa by 8 a.m. local time.
Burrows said he disregarded warnings from officials and ventured outside to assess the storm’s wrath once he thought it was safe.
“We had some flooding on the streets, but nothing that is actually encroaching on homes at this point in time,” he said. “We seem to have come through it unscathed.”
The former first responder said he has a generator and fuel at the ready, and plans to wait out the remainder of the storm with his family before joining the relief effort. He hopes his neighbours will stay put as well.
“I know there are people out there driving around and trying to look at the damage. All you are doing is making it harder for the first responders and getting in the way of the work that needs to be done right now,” Burrows said.
Over 300 kilometres to the south, Allison De La Cruz is ignoring those requests to stay off the roads. She said her Naples, Fla., neighbourhood had a “dark and eerie” vibe on Monday morning as she toured Irma’s path of destruction.
“Driving past these streets is like driving through a maze that you have to manoeuvre around,” she said. “Our streets are definitely banged up.”
Like many in the region, De La Cruz said she faced a difficult decision as Irma made landfall on Sunday -- hunker down or evacuate. She went with her “gut feeling” and fortified her townhome.
“Fortunately we didn’t have any flooding,” she said. “We came out pretty unscathed compared to what we had prepared for.”
With fuel in short supply and less than a full tank in her vehicle, De La Cruz realizes now that attempting a last-minute escape could have been a perilous mistake.
“By the time we really realized how strong she could have been, they were telling us if we weren’t leaving by a certain hour, we shouldn’t be on the streets because she could catch up to us on the highway,” she said.
