We're running out of time': Miami now a ghost town

Apocalyptic scenes are playing out across the Sunshine State, as more than a million people flee Hurricane Irma's wrath.

In the usually bustling city of Miami, the streets and beaches are eerily empty and businesses boarded up. Meanwhile, Floridians sit in hours-long traffic jams on all roads leading north to seek shelter with friends and family.


An estimated 1.4million people have been given mandatory orders to evacuate in Florida and Georgia, and that number is expected to grow as the storm approaches.  Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for all of the counties in the southern tip of Florida and for most all the way up the east coast. Residents in the coastal areas of Georgia, including Savannah, are also under evacuation.
The latest forecasts show the storm making landfall just south of Miami Sunday morning, but dangerous winds and storm surges could start as early as Saturday night.

It's then expected to track directly up the state, crossing the state line into Georgia early next week.
Irma weakened slightly Friday, from a Category 5 storm to a Category 4 storm, but remained a dangerous and deadly hurricane threatening to deliver a blow Florida hasn't seen in more than a decade.

As of Friday afternoon, Irma was clocking sustained winds of 150 mph and is forecast to remain at Category 4 when it comes ashore.

'Obviously Hurricane Irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the United States,' Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator (FEMA), said at a Friday press conference. 'We're going to have a couple rough days.'


The storm killed at least 24 people in the Caribbean and left thousands homeless as it devastated small islands in its path.

The National Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings for the Keys and parts of South Florida and Lake Okeechobee. It added a storm surge warning and extended watch areas wrapping around much of the peninsula.

For Irma, forecasters predicted a storm surge of 6 to 12 feet above ground level along Florida's southwest coast and in the Keys. As much as a foot of rain could fall across the state, with isolated spots receiving 20 inches.

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