Weakened Irma leaves four dead in Georgia and South Carolina
Irma has forced the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta to cancel hundreds of flights.
Tropical Storm Irma has killed at least three people in Georgia, flooding the coast, sending trees crashing on to homes and forcing the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta to cancel hundreds of flights.
The former hurricane remained an immense, 415 mile-wide storm as its centre moved on from Florida, giving its still-formidable gusts and drenching rains a far reach.
About 540,000 people were ordered to evacuate days earlier from Savannah and the rest of Georgia’s coast.
Irma sent 4ft of ocean water into central Charleston, South Carolina, as the storm’s centre passed 250 miles away, and city officials urged residents to stay off the streets.
In Atlanta, people nervously watched towering oak trees as the city, 250 miles inland, experienced its first tropical storm warning.
The body of a 62-year-old man who had climbed a ladder behind his home was found under debris on the roof of his shed in south-west Georgia, where winds topped 40mph, Worth County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kannetha Clem said.
His wife had called 911 saying he had had a heart attack.
“He was lodged between two beams and had a little bit of debris on top of him,” Ms Clem said. “He was on the roof at the height of the storm.”
Another man, in his 50s, was killed just outside Atlanta when a tree fell on his house, Sandy Springs police Sergeant Sam Worsham said.
A woman died when a tree fell on a vehicle in a private driveway, according to the website of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Charles Saxon, 57, became South Carolina’s first recorded death when he was struck by a tree limb while clearing debris outside his home in Calhoun Falls amid wind gusts of about 40mph, according to Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley.
Irma weakened into a tropical depression late on Monday, and the National Hurricane Centre discontinued all storm surge and tropical weather watches and warnings related to the storm.
Meteorologist Keith Stellman said Atlanta’s airport recorded sustained winds of 45mph with gusts up to 64mph.
The hurricane centre forecast Irma to drop 5in to 8in of rain across South Carolina and the northern regions of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi over the next two days.
About 800 flights were cancelled at Atlanta International Airport, and Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority suspended all bus and rail services on Monday but said it would resume limited service on Tuesday with plans to expand service as weather conditions improve.
Central Atlanta’s streets were eerily quiet, with restaurants, businesses and schools closed. Traffic flowed easily on the city’s interstates, normally a sea of brake lights during rush hours.
Nearly 1.5 million Georgia Power and EMC customers were without power. Alabama Power reported 45,000 outages. Utilities said thousands of employees were prepared to respond, but repairs could take several days.
