As Hurricane Irma rips through the Caribbean islands it’s expected to soon hit Florida and possibly become the costliest storm in United States history, according to experts.
Mandatory evacuation orders have already started and Florida. Freeways are jammed with residents hoping to escape the expected destruction.
The Category 5 storm gutted parts of the Caribbean Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and leaving thousands without homes. It’s expected to make landfall in Florida on Sunday.
READ MORE: Hurricane Irma photos reveal the destruction left in monster storm’s wake
Irma is also predicted to be “bigger, faster and stronger” than Hurricane Andrew, the devastating Category 5 hurricane that caused major damage in Florida in 1992, Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned on Wednesday.
WATCH: Hurricane Irma cuts swath of destruction in Caribbean
When will Irma hit Florida?
The Hurricane Center predicted Irma will remain a Category 4 or 5 storm for the next day or two as it passes parts of the Bahamas Thursday night, and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday.
It will then likely head north toward Florida Sunday and up to Georgia and South Carolina the next day.
Where are evacuation notices?
On Thursday, the U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami said a hurricane watch has been issued for the Florida Keys and on the south Florida mainland.
Residents in parts of the Miami metro area are under a mandatory order to leave their homes.
READ MORE: Evacuations in Florida as Hurricane Irma nears
Monroe County, home to the Florida Keys, has already ordered mandatory evacuations. Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, issued a mandatory evacuation Wednesday for areas east of Federal Highway.
Roman Gastesi, the administrator of Monroe County told CNN that streets were empty in Key West and 90 per cent of businesses were closed Thursday. County officials, including police and emergency workers, would be leaving, he said.
“If you’re going to stay, you’re on your own,” Gastesi said.
Scott said to expect more evacuations across the state, depending on where the storm lands.
How are people getting out?
There are already traffic jams on highways along evacuation routes.
Fuel supplies are running low around the state and GasBuddy is offering a tracker to find out which gas stations have fuel, so drivers know where they can gas up.
An estimated 25,000 people or more left the Florida Keys after all visitors were ordered to clear out earlier this week, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic on the single highway that links the chain of low-lying islands to the mainland.
Scott waived tolls on all Florida highways and told people if they were thinking about leaving to “get out now.”
WATCH: People fleeing Hurricane Irma cause traffic jam on highway out Florida
The Florida Highway Patrol said troopers are monitoring the high volume of traffic heading north and extra crews will be on the roadways to help drivers whose vehicles have become disabled.
Many residents are also trying to fly out of the destruction zone but a majority flights are already booked up (and if they’re available it comes at a high price).
How bad could it get?
If Irma follows a track just west of Florida’s eastern coast, the initial storm surge could heavily damage the Florida Keys, the cities at the southern tip of Florida’s mainland, Florida City and Homestead, parts of Miami and Miami Beach, and other Atlantic coast cities, said Brian Haus, a professor of ocean sciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
If Irma moves up Florida’s west coast, that would put Tampa, St. Petersburg and other Gulf cities in danger from significant storm surge, Haus added.
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Turks and Caicos slammed by Irma -
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Hurricane Irma leaves a trial of destruction in the Caribbean -
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Hurricane Irma: St. Maarten tourists survey damage caused by massive storm -
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Widespread destruction as Irma tears through Barbuda -
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Hurricane Irma: Residents capture ferocious winds hammer Virgin Islands -
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Hurricane Irma winds bend trees as storm batters Barbuda, Guadalupe -
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Hurricane Irma ravages St. Maarten by stripping roofs from homes, toppling shipping containers
The hurricane’s destructive winds could also carve up much of Florida’s priciest real estate, damaging properties from the Florida Keys through Jacksonville as it swirls north.
“This could easily be the most costly storm in U.S. history, which is saying a lot considering what just happened two weeks ago,” said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.
Insurance companies are still tallying the damage from Hurricane Harvey’s extended stay over southern Texas in August, but insured losses are estimated at $20 billion, and that’s a fraction of the $65 billion or more in losses due to flooding alone, according to the catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide.
However, experts are predicting Irma will not flood Florida on a similar scale. Harvey sat over Houston for days, dumping up to 1,270 millimetres of rain. Irma is moving swiftly and should bring less than a quarter of that to Florida cities.
South Florida also has a better flood control system, the ground is more porous and there aren’t any hills to send water rushing down from above, said Hugh Willoughby, a former research director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Is Florida ready?
It has been almost 25 years since Florida took a hit from a Category 5 storm. Hurricane Andrew struck just south of Miami in 1992 with winds topping 265 km/h, killing 65 people and inflicting $26 billion in damage. It was at the time the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
While Florida building codes were tightened and enforced more stringently after Andrew, the population since then has grown, coastal development has continued, and climate change has become more pronounced.
WATCH: Florida governor warns storm will be ‘way bigger’ than Hurricane Andrew
Under 2001 rules, housing in most parts of Florida must be built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. Miami-Dade and Broward counties have more stringent building codes requiring some structures to withstand Category 4 winds.
The last major storm to hit Florida was Hurricane Wilma in 2005, which had winds of 193 kph. Five people died.
What is Trump is saying
President Donald Trump’s exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach sits in the path of the storm.
In a tweet Thursday morning, Trump remarked that Irma “is raging but we have great teams of talented and brave people already in place and ready to help.”
Trump asked people to “be careful, be safe!”
— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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