Copyright: TVB Pearl News, Ms. Sonya Artero
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhs469aQOgk
{O/C} If you value your life, you must evacuate now. That's the order that has millions of residents on the U.S. East Coast fleeing before Hurricane Irma hits.
Sonya Artero reports.
{SOT}
{Soundbite} SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer: If you are in Florida, you are in danger right now. It is so powerful right now that it holds the record for the entire globe.
Hurricane Irma has been raging at 185 miles per hour for more than two days.
{Soundbite} RICK SCOTT, Florida Governor: It is life-threatening. This is not a storm you can sit and wait through.
It's now blowing towards the Turks & Caicos and is on track to hit the Florida Keys by Saturday.
{Soundbite} MICHAEL BRENNAN, NOAA'S National Hurricane Centre Specialist: Over the next several days we expect Irma to remain near Category 4, Category 5 Hurricane as it moves west-northwestard to the south of the Bahamas and north of Cuba and turns northward and approaches the Florida peninsula on Sunday.
Residents in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have been told to brace for a storm more powerful than Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6,000 people in the Philippines.
Miami is heeding the warning. Tens of thousands of people packed highways to escape Irma's wrath. It's Florida's largest mass evacuation in 12 years.
But many face long lines to gas-up.
Storm fear triggered chaos at Miami International Airport where passengers trying to fly out discovered thousands of flight cancellations.
{Soundbite} PAUL DAVIS, Florida Resident Trying to Evacuate: All the tickets were sold out, I kept trying all week, over and over again.
The storm's even affected Florida's massive cruise industry.
{Soundbite} TOMAS REGALADO, Mayor of Miami: The cruise lines that are supposed to be docking here on Saturday are not. They're coming in early, dropping off their passengers.
Homeowners in Deerfield Beach rushed to batten down the hatches.
{Soundbite} GARY PURLOWIN, Deerfield Beach Resident: Hopefully that it goes off the east coast and we are on the good side and not the dirty side, otherwise I'm scared as hell about my house.
While President Donald Trump assured residents they're in good hands he also urged them to flee.
{Soundbite} DONALD TRUMP, U.S. President: So, to the people of Florida, we just want you to protect yourselves, be very, very vigilant and careful.
Residents in the Bahamas are gearing up to ride out the storm. Many lined up for hours to stock up on water.
And in Cuba, mass evacuations included escorting tourists from low-lying areas.
Sonya Artero, TVB news.
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