Florida braces for Hurricane Irma amid dire warnings

MIAMI (AP) — Florida residents picked store shelves clean and long lines formed at gas pumps Wednesday as Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 monster with potentially catastrophic winds of 185 mph, steamed toward the Sunshine State and a possible direct hit on the Miami metropolitan area of nearly 6 million people.

The most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic destroyed homes and flooded streets as it roared through a chain of small islands in the northern Caribbean. Meteorologists said Irma could hit the Miami area by early Sunday, then rake the entire length of the state and push into the Carolinas.

But they warned that the forecast this far out contains a large degree of uncertainty.