Eye Of Hurricane Irma Hits Florida Leaving Millions Without Power

The furious Hurricane Irma has made landfall in southern Florida packing winds of around 200km an hour, leaving more than two million homes and businesses without power.

The storm cell, which has been downgraded to a category two, is being described as one of the most powerful to ever hit the Atlantic, already killing two dozen people in the Caribbean. Irma has changed track slightly and is now striking the state's west coast.

Authorities have confirmed at least three people have died in storm related car crashes, while more than six million people have been ordered to evacuate the southern end, that's about a third of the state's population.

Irma is starting to lose some strength but forecasters warn it will remain very powerful, even a couple of tornadoes have been recorded, while another big worry for emergency crews being storm surge flooding.

Florida Governor Rick Scott had a very scary message for locals, pleading with them to realise how life-threatening the situation is.

"The storm surge will rush in and could kill you. Take this deadly storm seriously," he said.

"We've never had anything like this. 10-15 feet above ground level, even 5 or 6 feet, it's hard to believe anybody will survive that if it comes through your house. It flushes in and flushes out. That's going to be very difficult to survive."

President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration, authorising federal funding for those impacted by Irma across Florida.

Trump described the storm as "some big monster", saying he wants to go to the state very soon to survey the damage while praising emergency officials for their efforts.