A weakening but still dangerously powerful Hurricane Irma, now a Category 2 storm, is nearing the Tampa-St. Petersburg area on Sunday night, with tropical storm-force winds extending out 415 miles, according to the National Hurricane Center. Irma made landfall at Cudjoe Key just after 9 a.m. on Sunday, then made landfall a second time at Marco Island at 3:30 p.m. before pummeling Naples just to the north. Winds as strong as 99 miles per hour swept through Miami-Dade County, flooding the streets of Miami and toppling two cranes plus another in Ft. Lauderdale. At least 3.3 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida on Sunday night, and "life-threatening" wind and storm surge warnings are in effect from the Keys to Tampa and much of western and central Florida.
From the Florida Keys to points north, broadcasters and the occasional storm chaser tried to capture the power of Irma, with varying degrees of success. Here's storm-chaser Lagend Juston measuring the winds on Key West at 8:50 a.m., right before landfall at nearby Cudjoe Key.
In Key Largo, CNN's Bill Weir describe's Irma's wind and rain as like a power-washer on his face:
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In Naples, The Weather Channel's Mike Bettes couldn't finish his broadcast:
And here's a drone's-eye view of what Naples looked like after Irma's eye passed over it:
ABC News' Tom Llamas described what the hurricane was like in Fort Myers, due north of Naples.
Mike Tobin at Fox News explained the deteriorating conditions in Tampa on Sunday night, before the storm hits in force early Monday morning.
And if you're wondering how these hardy (or foolhardy) weather reporters manage to broadcast from the eye of a hurricane, NBC News' Kerry Sanders took a relatively calm moment in Naples to give everyone a peek behind the scenes. Peter Weber
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