Irma - as it happened: Florida Governor Scott says 'last chance to make a good decision' and evacuate or seek shelter
More than six million people ordered to evacuate Florida as storm moves towards western coast - but all of the state will see winds of 80mph and above
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Your support makes all the difference.Hurricane Irma is bearing down on Florida, after having wrought destruction in the Caribbean, killing at least 24 people.
Winds of up to 160mph smashed into Cuba's northern coast on Saturday hours after it was classified as a Category 5 storm.
Irma has now been downgraded to a Category 3, but is forecast to restrengthen once it moves away from Cuba, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.
Concerns are also mounting over Hurricane Jose, which is growing in strength and heading towards islands already devastated by Irma.
Florida is bracing for Irma to hit on Sunday morning. It is expected to bring massive wind and flooding damage to the fourth most populous US state.
Governor Rick Scott warned that Irma, the most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history, is wider than the "entire state".
More than six million people - a quarter of the Florida's population - have been ordered to evacuate.
The Carolinas, Alabama and Georgia have also declared emergencies.
The storm, of "nuclear" ferocity, has already churned along a path through the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.
Irma's eye passed directly over the island of Barbuda, meaning its inhabitants were twice subjected to the fastest winds.
Heavy rain and howling winds raked the neighbouring island of Antigua, sending debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters.
Officials had warned people to seek protection from Irma's "onslaught" in a statement that closed with: "May God protect us all."
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the UK was "taking swift action to respond" to the disaster after speaking to the chief minister of Anguilla, a British overseas territory that was among the first islands to be hit.
Britons in the region have been urged to follow evacuation orders, while states of emergency have been declared in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Florida - amid fears Miami could be struck directly by the hurricane.
A British naval ship has been deployed to help deal with the aftermath with 40 Royal Marines on board, as well as army engineers and equipment, as authorities struggle to bring aid to smaller islands.
Hurricane Irma is exiting the Caribbean, leaving mass destruction in it wake.
In Anguilla, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency says 90 per cent of government buildings and business structures were damaged in the storm.
In Turks and Caicos, flooding reached above the waist in some places. A community known as Blue Hill on the northwestern side is “gone,” Minister of Infrastructure Gold Ray Ewing said.
In Barbuda, a two-year-old was swept off of his family's roof and died. An estimated 90 per cent of the structures on the island were damaged or destroyed.
A total of 23 people were killed in the storm thus far.
Houston residents attempting to return to flooded homes after Hurricane Harvey should wear breathing masks against bacteria from the city's sewers and watch for alligators and snakes, the city fire chief has said.
As Irma comes towards southern Florida, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long told has told CNN that residents that have stayed behind in the Keys face a potentially deadly situation.
"You're on your own until we can actually get in there, and it's safe for our teams to support local and state efforts,"
"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."
Behind Irma, the core of Hurricane Jose will move away from the northern Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday night and should begin gradually weakening on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Jose is currently about 85 miles (135 km) north-northwest of the northern Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour.
The fact that it is seen to be moving away from the islands - already having been devastated by Irma will come as relief. Although they will not be totally clear of danger.
The National Hurricane Center has extended its storm surge warning around the Florida peninsula and into South Carolina.
A storm surge warning means there is a danger of life-threatening inundations of water from the coastline. Some areas of Florida are expecting 10 to 15 feet of water from the surge.
Surge warnings now extend to the Suwanee River in South Carolina. Those in the warning zone are encouraged to heed the evacuation instructions of local officials.
Wind hazards are expected to spread through parts of Georgia and Alabama.
Hurricane Irma is expected to produce 20 to 25 inches of rain in some areas of Florida, the National Weather Service reports. The Weather Service predicts inland flooding as a result.
For comparison, Tropical Storm Harvey's 50 inches of rain fully submerged cars – and even houses – in some areas of Texas.
The latest from The Independent's Clark Mindock, who is in Miami as Floridians prepare for Irma to make landfall:
Rains are pounding down on Southern Florida now, leaving streets all but empty. Most civilians have been told to stay off roadways if possible, leaving mostly emergency vehicles on the roads.
Police are restricting traffic to barrier islands, urging residents to leave now or stick with their decision to stay.
'A ringside seat” to Hurricane Irma
A Key West Bar owner who chose not to evacuate told CNN he has a 'ringside seat' to the coming action.
The local business owner said he had shuttered his house in preparation for the storm, but eventually decided to move to a Marriott Inn.
Now, he said, "I am on the third floor, with a spiral staircase going up to the rooftop, if I was that brave".
He added: "It’s kind of like an exciting vacation. A little more exciting than what I’d like, but an exciting vacation none the less."
There's a wild bunch riding out Hurricane Irma inside the Key West jail.
Just ahead of Hurricane Irma, 426 inmates were evacuated by bus to lockups in Palm Beach County.
Then, things got really wild. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office runs an Animal Farm, housing 250 animals that have been abandoned, abused, confiscated or donated. And with a storm surge threatening to swamp the farm, the sheriff's office figured the jail cells are much safer for the animals.
The new population of the Key West jail includes Mo the Sloth and Kramer the Emu, along with horses, pigs, goats, sheep, tropical birds, alligators, snakes, turtles and others.
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