Hurricane Irma hits Florida, begins assault after warning

After leaving a path of destruction across the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma on Sunday morning begun its assault on Florida reaching the lower Florida Keys as a powerful Category 4 storm killing three people already.

The Hurricane which threatened to devastate much of the state of Florida snapped palm trees and everything on it's path.

The US National Hurricane Centre said Irma lashed the area with maximum sustained winds near 215km/h and it was expected to remain a powerful storm as it moved through the Florida Keys and near the state's west coast.

As of 2100 AEST on Sunday, the hurricane was centred about 25km south-southeast of Key West, Florida, and was moving northwest at 13km/h.

According to ABC reports, three people were killed in car crashes, caught in Hurricane Irma’s destructive path with at least 478,340 households left without power.

Surge coming up ! #KeyWest #irma pic.twitter.com/iQBGH7yrif

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 10, 2017

The National Hurricane Center said, Southwestern coastal cities from Cape Sable and Captiva could see walls of water up to 15 feet.

This is a life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center said.

Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.

The National Weather Service earlier Sunday morning urged everyone in the Florida Keys to "hunker down," warning, "the worst winds are yet to come."

This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! the National Weather Service in Key West said, urging those who had not heeded dire warnings to evacuate to take shelter “now to protect your life!.

Before now, around 6.3 million people - about 30 per cent of the state's population - were told to evacuate while tens of thousands are huddled in shelters. But reports says, not everyone heeded the orders to evacuate.

It's going from crappy to worse, said John Hines, who did not evacuate and stayed in his home in the Key West.

All the interior doors are starting to rattle now, sounds like someone is knocking on the front door, he said.

The winds are picking up. It's only going to get worse as it gets closer.

Florida residents evacuating, others staying put as Irma approaches

Those who did not evacuate ahead of the storm are in danger, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said Saturday.

You're on your own until we can actually get in there and it's safe, he told CNN.

The message has been clear: The Keys are going to be impacted. There is no safe area within the Keys. And you put your life in your own hands by not evacuating.

Irma was at one time the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the open Atlantic with a peak wind speed of 300km/h last week.

It left more than 20 people dead across the Caribbean and as it moved north over the Gulf of Mexico's bathtub-warm water of nearly 90 degrees, it was expected to regain strength.