Hurricane Irma Hit Florida With Full Force

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More than three million people in Florida were in the dark Sunday night due to the effects of a fierce hurricane that pounded parts of the state's Gulf Coast with winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour.

Hurricane Irma weakened slightly as it moved slowly north through the third most populous U.S. state Sunday, but its swirling winds were still measured at 165 kph as darkness fell.

The storm slammed into the Florida Keys early Sunday, when it was near its greatest strength. By evening it was closing in on Tampa and St. Petersburg, the two largest cities around Tampa Bay, where a storm surge was expected to push waves of water up to three meters deep into streets, yards and homes.

A major hurricane has not hit Tampa in more than 100 years. Hurricane Irma was an unusually wide storm, and high winds and rain covered the entire Florida Peninsula, from Jacksonville south to Miami.