The dramatic moment Hurricane Irma blew the roof off of a two story building in Miami was caught on video.
The powerful storm caused massive flooding with bands of rain and winds lashing the city on Sunday when it arrived in the Sunshine State at 9.10am ET at Cudjoe Key.
The full force of the hurricane, with winds at times reaching 130mph, pummeled the southern part of Florida throughout most of the day.
The short video clip begins with a man yelling in a high-rise next door as the roof on the building peels off before landing on top of the residence next door.
According to the Miami Fire Department, the damaged building is located at the corner of NE 5th Ave and NE 27th St in the midtown area of the city.
It’s unclear if anyone was in the building at the time of the incident or if injuries occurred.
Since the hurricane hit the state, three have died in two separate car crashes, while a fourth died of natural causes overnight in a shelter.
The dramatic moment Hurricane Irma blew the roof off of a two story building in Miami was caught on video
The short video clip begins with a man yelling in a high-rise next door as the roof on the building peels off before landing on top of the residence next door
More than two million people are without power in Florida due to the hurricane that is now a Category 2 storm.
The National Hurricane Center said Irma’s winds were at 110 mph, just below major hurricane status, as the center of the still dangerous and wide storm moved farther inland late Sunday afternoon. It was smacking Naples after coming ashore in Marco Island at 3.35pm.
Areas of Naples are now suffering substantial flooding and swathes of the west coast – as well as lakes, bays and sounds nearby – are under 15ft storm surge warnings. The National Hurricane Center said water levels in Naples rose 7ft in just 90 minutes.
A wind gust of 142 mph was recorded at the Naples Municipal Airport as the storm kept its top sustained wind speed of 110 mph.
According to the Miami Fire Department, the damaged building is located at the corner of NE 5th Ave and NE 27th St
It’s unclear if anyone was in the building at the time of the incident or if injuries occurred. The residence is pictured above in a file photo
Hurricane Irma is making its way up the state of Florida and is expected to hit Tampa early Monday morning with 85mph winds
Irma should be moving directly over the Tampa Bay area around midnight.
‘Pray, pray for everybody in Florida,’ Governor Rick Scott said on Fox News Sunday.
As Irma continued its unprecedented assault on the state, two of the four victims claimed in Florida were identified.
Hardee County Sheriff’s deputy Julie Bridges, a mother of one, and Hardee Correctional Institute sergeant Joseph Ossman crashed and died on Sunday around 60 miles from Saratosa.
While the confirmed body count is currently just four, the suffering from Irma’s onslaught is much wider, with more than three million losing power and swathes of Miami – where two cranes were toppled – left flooded.
The Keys, which is where Irma first made landfall, are now the subject of a huge airborne relief mission.
Miami’s famed Ocean Drive was slammed by Hurricane Irma’s winds and rain as it made landfall at around 9am Sunday, following hours of increasingly dangerous weather
President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in the state of Florida on Sunday, making federal aid available to people affected by Hurricane Irma in nine counties already hit by the storm.
As the hurricane moves up the west coast, experts have warned that there will be a negative surge of three or more feet, as water is pulled out into the sea, or into the centers of lakes, bays or sounds.
That might look like the hurricane is subsiding – but it’s just a prelude to the real surge, which will push huge amounts of water back towards the land.
A storm surge hit Naples at 4.35pm as the eye of the storm got closer to the city, with feet of water suddenly flowing onto streets. But that was a small pre-surge and not the full level.
Irma tore down a construction crane atop a skyscraper high over Miami (left and right). Cranes are designed to withstand strong winds and twist like weather vanes to reduce resistance, but Irma was too much
Palm Bay officer Dustin Terkoski walks over debris from a partially collapsed two-story home at Palm Point Subdivision in Brevard County
That kind of flooding is a risk on both sides of the state, but is particularly dangerous on the west coast.
Previous hurricanes have seen dozens killed after people ran out onto beaches to pick up newly stranded fish, only to be caught as the deadly waves flow back onto the helpless crowds.
There are longer-term threats, too, from sewage and other toxins being caught in the surge back onto land.
‘We’re going to be inundated with unprecedented amounts of water,’ Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said Sunday.
‘It’s going to stress our storm water and sewer capacity. There’s going to be overflows. There’s no two ways around it.’
A door is seen blown in at a Regions Bank as Hurricane Irma passes through Miami with its 130mph winds; note the leaves continuing to spiral in the air