Irma effect: 70,000 in shelters, 3.4 mn may face power cut

Washington: Florida Governor Rick Scott on Saturday said 6.5 million people were ordered to evacuate ahead of Irma and that 70,000 people have moved into 385 shelters across the state.

"There's still room for more," he was quoted saying. He said that more shelters would be opened on Saturday.

"Protecting life is our top priority. No resource or expense will be spared to protect families," Scott added.

Meanwhile, Florida Power and Light (FPL) estimated that nearly 3.4 million of its customers could be without power at some point during Hurricane Irma.

Also read: Hurricane Irma batters Cuba, Florida evacuates millions

If that comes to pass, it will be the largest number of outages they have ever had to deal with, FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said.

"We think this could be the most challenging restoration in the history of the US," McGrath said.

The Governor said that 76,000 customers had already lost power.

--Inputs from IANS