Three dead in Puerto Rico as 'nuclear' hurricane moves toward Bahamas, on course for Florida
MIAMI - The caprices of wind and water saved impoverished Haiti and the Dominican Republic from a direct hit by Hurricane Irma on Thursday, but the death toll grew as the historic storm bore down relentlessly on other Caribbean targets and headed for South Florida.
A "nuclear hurricane" is what Philip Levine, the mayor of vulnerable barrier-island Miami Beach, called Irma as Floridians fled northward and inland. Irma's leading edge was expected to reach Florida as soon as Saturday, and Gov. Rick Scott spoke of a "catastrophic storm that our state has never seen."
The hurricane has left a string of small, devastated Caribbean islands counting their dead
