Indian-Americans open homes as Hurricane Irma pummels Florida; storm now headed to Atlanta

Hurricane Irma made a landfall on Marco Island off Florida's west coast as a Category four storm early on Sunday morning and tore through the area with winds of about 192 km per hour. Over 3.4 million homes are now without power and five deaths have also been reported, according to ABC News.

Even though the storm has now been downgraded to category two now, it still has maximum sustained winds of 177 km per hour. Many areas have been inundated and trees have been uprooted. The winds have managed to pull down quite a few power polls too.

US President Donald Trump has called Irma "some big monster" and lauded the emergency officials for their efforts. "The bad news is that this is some big monster," Trump told reporters at the White House, and noted that the damage would be very costly. However, he clarified that the state is not looking at damages right now and is focusing on the people.

"Right now, we are worried about lives, not cost," Trump noted.

To help those affected, Indian-Americans in Atlanta and nearby areas are taking in friends, family, and others from Florida. Sewa International, an Indian-American organisation, is carrying out major relief operations and has provided shelter to over 300 families, reported the Press Trust of India.

The Indian Consulate in Atlanta also has been taking in those affected and tweeted that over 400 homes could provide shelter. Temples have also been opened up to help people and Amma Kitchen has been serving free food to those coming in from Florida. Additionally, Indian-American hoteliers are also giving out unreserved rooms to those who fled Florida.

Meanwhile, the damage could have been bigger had millions of Florida residents not vacated their homes on Friday and moved to safer areas. Florida Governor Rick Scott urged the 5.6 million people in the state to leave as soon as possible and said that those who intend to stay would have to do it at their own risk.

"If you are planning to leave and do not leave tonight, you will have to ride out this extremely dangerous storm at your own risk," Scott said at a press conference. "You are not going to survive this if it happens. Now is the time to evacuate."

The storm is now changing its course and is set to hit parts of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. Irma is likely to hit Atlanta early Monday morning with expected winds of up to 80 km per hour and heavy rains. The rainfall could be between 8 to 16 inches in parts of Georgia, 3-12 inches in western South Carolina, and western North Carolina and about 2 to 5 inches in eastern Alabama and southern Tennessee, reported Heavy.

Flash floods and mudslides are likely as well. "We're on the wrong side of the storm," Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns told Atlanta's WSB-TV. "The Atlanta metro is going to see a lot of rainfall, intense rainfall at times, 3-6 inches, with the possibility of isolated tornadoes. And we're going to see winds that are averaging about 40 mph, with peak wind gusts of about 60 mph."