HURRICANE TRACKER: Hurricane Irma Falls To Category 4 With 150 MPH Winds – 11 A.M. Update

By  //  September 8, 2017

next update set for 2 p.m.

ABOVE VIDEO: Space Coast Daily’s Thursday Night update by Alan Zlotorzynski.

National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. report shows Irma with 150 mph max sustained winds and now labeled a Category 4 hurricane. (NHC Image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. report shows Irma with 150 mph max sustained winds and now labeled a Category 4 hurricane.

Irma is moving to the west-northwest at 16 mph and expected to turn northwest late Saturday towards Florida.

Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 hurricane as it approaches Florida.

“A Category 4 Hurricane can inflict well-built framed homes to sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls,”according to the National Hurricane Center.

“Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”

On the forecast track, the eye of Irma should move near the north coast of Cuba and the central Bahamas today and Saturday, and be near the Florida Keys and the southern Florida Peninsula Sunday morning.

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STORM SURGE

The Storm Surge Warning has been extended from Jupiter Inlet northward to Sebastian Inlet and from Bonita Beach northward to Venice.

A Storm Surge Watch has been issued from north of Sebastian Inlet to Ponce Inlet.

The Hurricane Watch has been extended northward along the east coast of Florida to the Flagler/Volusia County Line, and along the west coast of Florida to Anclote River.

The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water is expected to reach the following HEIGHTS ABOVE GROUND if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide…

SW Florida from Captiva to Cape Sable…6 to 12 ft
Jupiter Inlet to Cape Sable including the Florida Keys…5 to 10 ft
Ponce Inlet to Jupiter Inlet…3 to 6 ft
Venice to Captiva…3 to 6 ft

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast in areas of onshore winds, where the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.

WIND

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185
miles.

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RAINFALL

Irma is expected to produce the following rain accumulations through Tuesday night:

– Dominican Republic and Haiti…additional 1 to 4 inches.
– Turks and Caicos…additional 2 to 4 inches.
– Southern Bahamas and northern Cuba…10 to 15 inches, isolated 20
inches.
– Southern Cuba…4 to 8 inches, isolated 12 inches.
– Jamaica…1 to 2 inches.
– The upper Florida Keys into southeast Florida…10 to 15 inches,
isolated 20 inches.
– Lower Florida Keys…4 to 8 inches.
– Eastern Florida northward into coastal Georgia…8 to 12 inches,
isolated 16 inches.
– Western Florida peninsula…4 to 8 inches, isolated 12 inches.
– Much of Georgia…South Carolina…and Western North Carolina…3 to
6 inches.

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