Hurricane Irma Barrels Toward Cuba and Florida; Death Toll at Least 19

• The National Hurricane Center downgraded Irma to a Category 4 storm but said it remained “extremely dangerous,” with winds of 150 miles per hour and the Florida Keys at risk of “life-threatening inundation.”

• Ferocious winds and rain could hit the Florida Keys by late Saturday, with the hurricane reaching heavily populated areas of South Florida on Sunday morning.

• The hurricane battered the Turks and Caicos Islands early Friday as it headed toward the southeastern Bahamas, where 20-foot storm surges are expected. Tourists on Cuba’s northern coast were also evacuated.

• At least 19 people have died because of the storm: nine in the French Caribbean, four in the United States Virgin Islands, three in Puerto Rico, one on the Dutch side of St. Martin, one in Barbuda and one in Anguilla.

Irma is downgraded to Category 4.

Irma is among the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years, according to the National Hurricane Center.

At 5 a.m. Eastern, the center downgraded the hurricane to Category 4, based on the lower intensity of sustained winds. But the center warned that the tempest remained “extremely dangerous,” with potentially deadly storm surges across a wide section of the United States.

As of 8 a.m., the hurricane continued to move west. “The eye of Irma should 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,” the center said.

Storm surges as high as 15 to 20 feet were expected in the Turks and Caicos, and in the southeastern and central Bahamas; five to 10 feet on the northern coast of Cuba and the northwestern Bahamas; and one to three feet on the northern coast of Haiti.

Much of the South Florida coast, including the Keys, could face up to five to 10 feet of storm surge.

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