ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Irma (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
The Marco Island police department is warning people who didn’t evacuate along the west coast of Florida to get to higher floors in their buildings.
The department issued the warning in a tweet on Sunday just as Hurricane Irma made landfall on the island.
Forecasts have called for life-threatening storm surge of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) along the coast.
___
4:30 p.m.
The University of Miami will not reopen either its main campus in Coral Gables or its Marine campus before Sept. 18 while it assesses the damage caused by Hurricane Irma.
The school says it is “proactively planning the recovery process.” Numerous out-of-state students went back home last week to wait out the storm and it remains unclear when they will even be able to travel back to South Florida.
Miami’s annual football rivalry game with Florida State has already been pushed back to Oct. 7. It had been scheduled for Sept. 16 in Tallahassee, the state capital that is also in Irma’s projected path.
A car is parked on a flooded road as Hurricane Irma passes, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Surfside, Fla. Photo: AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee.
____
4:30 p.m.
Electric car maker Tesla says it has temporarily increased the battery capacity of some of its cars to help drivers escaping Hurricane Irma.
The electric car maker said the battery boost was applied to Model S and X cars in the Southeast. Some drivers only buy 60 or 70 kilowatt hours of battery capacity, but a software change will give them access to 75 kilowatt hours of battery life until Saturday. Depending on the model, that could let drivers travel about 40 more miles before they would need to recharge their cars.
Tesla said it made the change after a customer asked the company for help evacuating. The company said it’s possible it will make similar changes in response to similar events in the future.
___
3:45 p.m.
Hurricane Irma has made landfall on Marco Island, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Irma’s powerful eye roared ashore at Marco Island just south of Naples with 115-mph (185-kph) winds, for a second U.S. landfall at 3:35 p.m. Sunday.
Category 3 storms have winds from 111 to 129 mph, but 130-mph (21-kph) wind gust was recently reported by the Marco Island Police Department.
Irma’s second U.S. landfall was tied for the 21st strongest landfall in the U.S. based on central pressure. Irma’s first U.S. landfall in the Florida Keys was tied for 7th.
___
3:30 p.m.
More than 2.1 million customers have lost power in Florida with Hurricane Irma striking the state.
Florida Power & Light reported the numbers Sunday afternoon. The utility, which services much of south Florida, says more than 845,000 of those customers are in Miami-Dade County.
Duke Energy, the dominant utility in the northern half of Florida, has about 13,000 outages with the outer bands of Irma sweeping across the region.
The power companies say they have extra crews on hand to try to restore power — when it becomes safe to do so.
FPL spokesman Rob Gould says an estimated 3.4 million homes and businesses will lose power once the worst of Irma reaches the Florida mainland.
___
3:30 p.m.
Hurricane Irma is affecting the House of Representative’s work schedule in Washington.
A notice from the House majority leader’s office says the House now doesn’t plan to take any votes Monday because of “the large number of absences” as a result of the storm.
The first votes of the week are expected Tuesday evening.
The House leadership will keep tabs on the situation and announce updates as necessary.
___
3:15 p.m.
The eye of Hurricane Irma is nearing Naples, Florida, and continues to cause destruction over a wide swath of South Florida.
The National Hurricane Center said Irma had winds of 120 mph (195 kilometers) and was centered 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Naples on Sunday afternoon. It was moving north at 12 mph (19 kilometers per hour). At that rate, the center of the storm should come ashore sometime between 4 and 5 p.m.
___
3:30 p.m.
Hurricane Irma 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.
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 200 yards (180 meters) out to get to the water’s new edge. The water is normally about 4 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 meters) deep and reaches a seawall.
The U.S. Hurricane Center has sent out an urgent alert warning of a “life-threatening storm surge inundation of 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5 meters) above ground level” and telling people to “MOVE AWAY FROM THE WATER!”
The waters retracted because the leading wind bands of Irma whipped the coastal water more out to sea. But once the eye passes and the wind reverses, the water will rush back in.
___
3:30 p.m. Hurricane Irma is affecting the House of Representative’s work schedule in Washington.
A notice from the House majority leader’s office says the House now doesn’t plan to take any votes Monday because of “the large number of absences” as a result of the storm.
The first votes of the week are expected Tuesday evening.
The House leadership will keep tabs on the situaton and announce updates as necessary.
___
3:15 p.m.
Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso says a second tower crane has collapsed into a building under construction in the city’s downtown area. Alfonso told The Associated Press that the crane collapsed in a large development with multiple towers being built by Grand Paraiso.
Another crane collapsed earlier Sunday onto a high-rise building that’s under construction in a bayfront area filled with hotels and high-rise condo and office buildings, near AmericanAirlines Arena. Officials said no one was injured as the result of either crane’s collapse.
High winds are impeding Miami authorities’ ability to reach the cranes, and authorities are urging people to avoid the areas.
Alfonso says the approximately two-dozen other cranes in the city are still upright and built to withstand significant wind gusts.
The tower cranes working on construction sites throughout the city were a concern ahead of Irma. Moving the massive equipment, weighing up to 30,000 pounds (13,600 kilograms), is a slow process that would have taken about two weeks, according to city officials.
___