[LOUD WIND]

DALE HURD: Irma hit Florida Sunday as a powerful category 4

hurricane, ripping off roofs, flooding streets, and knocking

out power to millions.

Still with winds near 85 miles per hour,

additional weakening is forecast and Irma

is expected to become a tropical storm over northern Florida

or southern Georgia.

But Irma has still left a trail of destruction.

Miami escaped Irma's center, but was still hammered

by high winds.

Gusts approached 100 miles per hour.

The storm even produced some tornadoes.

Winds so strong at least three construction cranes

crashed into buildings.

In downtown Miami, a storm surge turned roads into rivers.

And Irma hit hard in Naples and Fort Myers

on the western side of this state.

Irma caused one of the largest US evacuations

ever, with nearly seven million people in the southeast

warned to seek shelter elsewhere, including

6.4 million in Florida alone.

Millions of Floridians evacuated to places

like this arena, one of 500 across the state.

We were very nervous, very scared.

DALE HURD: And then the power went out.

EYEWITNESS: Oh, that was pink!

It's blue and pink.

DALE HURD: Some 3 and 1/2 million people across the state

lost power, and utility officials

say it will take weeks to restore electricity

to everyone.

And after Irma-- the looters.

Multiple stores were looted in both Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

President Trump approved a disaster declaration

for Florida, opening the way for federal aid.

Irma now is expected to continue to weaken as it heads north.

Forecast track takes the center, then into Georgia

tomorrow.

And then ultimately, with the system weakening,

becoming a tropical depression by Tuesday.

DALE HURD: A tropical storm warning

was issued for the first time ever in Atlanta,

where many schools canceled classes because of the storm.

Behind Irma, in parts of the Virgin Islands

close to total devastation.

In Havana, seawater submerged several blocks from the coast,

leaving an entire neighborhood under water,

while the whole city was without electricity.

Irma was once the most powerful hurricane ever recorded

in the open Atlantic--

a category 5 with a peak wind speed of 185 miles per hour.

As bad as she still is, Florida was shown some mercy.

Dale Hurd, CBN News.