This image obtained from the NASA's GOES Project shows Hurricane Irma covering the US state of Florida on Sunday. Picture: AFP

HURRICANE Irma is heading towards southwest Florida with the deadly storm threatening tornadoes on the state’s east coast.
Irma has lost some strength as it lashes southern Florida, but forecasts warn it will remain a powerful storm as it flooded Miami streets and knocked out power to about 1.8 million homes and businesses.
Tampa was braced to feel the full effects of the storm on Sunday evening local time with fears that the city was unprepared for the massive wind, rain and storm surge headed its way.
All of southern Florida was feeling the storm’s effects on Sunday afternoon, with at least three killed, a woman forced to deliver her own baby and trees and apartment towers swaying in high winds.

An American flag is torn as Hurricane Irma passes through Naples, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
The National Hurricane Center said the storm had maximum sustained winds of 195km/h, dropping it to a Category 3, the midpoint of the five-step Saffir- Simpson scale.
Irma had been one of the most powerful hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic, killing 28 people in the Caribbean and pummelling Cuba with 11m, waves on Sunday.
Its arrival in the US forced one of the largest evacuations in American history.
“The biggest thing you can do now is pray,” Governor Rick Scott said on Sunday afternoon.

People walk out on to what is normally four feet of water in Old Tampa Bay on Sunday. Picture: Chris O'Meara/AP
TAMPA ‘ABOUT TO GET PUNCHED’
The eye of Hurricane Irma was nearing the city of Naples in South Florida on Sunday afternoon local time.
It has already made landfall on nearby Marco Island as a Category 3 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center said Irma had winds of 195km/h and was centred 30km south of Naples on Sunday afternoon. It was moving north at 19km/h. At that rate, the centre of the storm should come ashore sometime between 4 and 5pm local time.
The storm has pushed water out of a bay in Tampa, but forecasters are telling people not to venture out there, because it’s going to return with a potentially deadly vengeance.
Fears grew how Tampa would deal with the storm after a July analysis by the Washington Post concluded that “the area is due for a major hurricane, and is not prepared. If a big one scores a direct hit, the damage would likely surpass Katrina.” Tampa the most vulnerable city in United States to a hurricane.

A floundered boat is shown at the Haulover Marine Center at Haulover Park as Hurricane Irma passes by Sunday in North Miami Beach. Picture: Wilfredo Lee/AP
Tampa’s mayor, Bob Buckhorn, declared indefinite curfew in Florida city starting at 6pm local time.
Mr Buckhorn delivered a stark warning online for everyone in one of Florida’s most densely populated regions.
Buckhorn has announced a 6pm mandatory curfew.
“We know we are ground zero for this storm. We have avoided it for 90 winds but our time has come to be ready,” he wrote on Twitter.
“We are about to get punched in the face by this storm.”
On Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, approximately 100 people were walking Sunday afternoon on what was Old Tampa Bay — a body of water near downtown. Hurricane Irma’s winds and low tide have pushed the water unusually far from its normal position. Some people are venturing as far as 180m out to get to the water’s new edge. The water is normally about 1m to 1.5m deep and reaches a seawall.

A crane atop a high-rise under construction in downtown Miami collapsed on Sunday. Picture: Gideon J. Ape via AP
MIAMI BATTERED AS CRANES COLLAPSE
While residents on Florida’s west coast are bracing themselves for the devastating eye of the hurricane, which could generate 4.5m walls of water, the east coast is being threatened by a series of twisters.
Indeed, a “fast-moving tornado” has been reported to be seen on the ground at Fort Lauderdale International Airport, The Sun reports.
In Miam.