this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 7pm. hurricane irma slams into florida with winds of up to 130 miles per hour. more than a million homes and businesses are without power. we have torrential rains causing flood warnings across the region, on top of the deadly storm surge that is almost certainly going to happen. there is a risk of tornadoes and the storm surge is predicted to be up to 15 feet high in some places. this is a life—threatening situation. remember, the storm surge comes after the strongest winds, do not think the storm is over when the winds slow down. this is live in florida, as the storm arrives. cuba was battered overnight —

there's been ‘significant damage‘ and the recovery process is now beginning. across the caribbean 25 people have including five in the british virgin islands we're a relief effort is getting underway. in other news: officials in mexico say at least 90 people are now known to have died in thursday's earthquake. sir mo farah becomes the first athlete to win the great north run four times in a row. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the governor of florida is warning that the entire west coast of the state is at risk of major storm surges as it is battered by hurricane irma. over 1

surges as it is battered by hurricane irma. 0ver1 million homes and businesses are without power and thousands of an storm shelters. the hurricane moved in after causing widespread damage in cuba. extreme winds and storm surges continued as the hurricane travelled on hurting the hurricane travelled on hurting the florida keys. now the city of tampa is in its path. miami is experiencing intense winds and flooding. in the hours before it finally hit the florida keys hurricane irma became more powerful. this storm surge, i will go for a seven seat. brian is one of those who defied orders to leave his home and was live on social media as the height of the hurricane approached. the massive surges were matched by extraordinary footage of the tide

being sucked away from shore, building energy to surge again. this isa building energy to surge again. this is a life—threatening situation. remember, the storm surge comes after the strongest winds. do not think the storm is over when the wind slows down. local officials will let you know when is safe go out. the storm surge will rush in and could kill you. alex peres escaped the keys to shelter in a hurricane proof building in miami. he is anxious, keeping in touch with those left behind. different areas have higher levels of flooding and lowered areas. up to people's roofs? miami is feeling the impact of hurricane irma also. these areas had been packed with tourists, although fled. with every passing hour before

the mainland is further affected. more than1 the mainland is further affected. more than 1 million the mainland is further affected. more than1 million homes the mainland is further affected. more than 1 million homes and businesses are already without power. beverley is saul on the streets anywhere and southern florida and that is because of the risk of flying debris. the risk of power lines and trees coming down. the emergency services say that even for them it will be near impossible to operate in the coming hours. the bbc was allowed to accompany the us air force as it flew into the eye of harry irma to track its power and direction. she is a little bit more violent. some storms, like katrina, was very big but it was well—organised and smooth. some of the smaller ones are more violent. this one is big and appears to be more violence will be expecting it bounced around quite a bit. up the florida coast mora preparing, warned

that hurricane irma might make a direct hit on some of the most populated areas in its path so far. the us national hurricane centre is reporting that hurricane irma's wind speed is currently 120 mph. it is a category three. everywhere my colleague spoke to major richard rand from the north miami beach police department. over a million people are without power and we have reports a clean has actually come down and fallen on a building. we have reports a hotel on the beach has lost its roof. we also have reports of police vehicles damaged because of the rain and winds. we have trees down everywhere

and main roads blocked. it isa it is a mess and this is reallyjust the beginning of the storm. nobody would think we are not in the middle ofa would think we are not in the middle of a category 45 hurricane because of a category 45 hurricane because of the is extremely hard. our communication still reasonable in terms of getting all these reports and? we have been doing tonnes of interviews and losing them halfway through the interview. i can tell you we are struggling. poland is going in and out and we are currently on generator power and we have been doing lots of interviews and losing them halfway through. we never know when we are going to lose connections. and how long do you anticipate it will be, taking into account the winds and storm surges that we have been warned are incredibly dangerous, how long before your people can get out and assess damage and help? i can tell you we are calling in a second squad tonight at midnight that will be here for at least another 24 hours so we're looking at 36 hours,

and hopefully we can get out before that but the storm has slowed down and is basicallyjust crushing us with heavy winds and rain. it is getting pretty bad. what is your assessment of the number of people who have not taken precautions that they were warned to take? as long as people stay in their homes and don't lose their roofs, the power lines are down and they are life, and if people go outside to check they can get electrocuted and die. that is a big concern for us. our military vehicle is the only vehicle we have that we can get out multiple trees are down and roofs are gone and trees have fallen, on an apartment complex that they evacuated,

and i have information that a couple of lives have been lost and i know that just north of us, the police were involved in a shooting over a burglary. it is pretty bad out here. speaking to my colleague eloi. let's show you these live that we're focusing on at the moment. this is bonita springs on the west coast, not far from naples, bonita springs on the west coast, not farfrom naples, a place many people may be familiar with. hurricane irma now a category three storm with 120 mph winds. hurricane irma will remain very powerful as it moves along the west coast for the next 48 hours. you can see what the conditions are like in this part of the storm. you have seen from the satellite pictures just to the enormous hurricane irma still is

even though it has been downgraded to category three, still immensely power. rick scott has not been mincing his words as the florida governor, telling peoplejust how dangerous it is. the sheer scale of the storm system means it is actually wider than the state of florida and places. michelle churchill lives in fort myers, not far away from these pictures. she has decided to stay put with her family and we can speak to her now. thank you for talking to us. why have you decided not to leave home? we were given mandatory evacuation yesterday by florida state. we decided to stay, because we believe we have one of the strongest concrete structures. as i see that there's a massive search going through the window. hurricane impact windows, which are structured to

hold 150 mph winds. we have double concrete blocks and we are two stories. moving up to the second story we're unable to hunker down and maybe avoid some of the strong storm surges which are predicted for when the storm turns. the ones are going to turn and that will bring all the water back from the gulf of mexico and basically flood the whole area. how close mexico and basically flood the whole area. how close are mexico and basically flood the whole area. how close are used to the water? we have a lake close to the front of house which will not be a problem in terms of the storm surge because that is affected by the golf course, but we are actually only five miles inland from fort myers beach so we add in the red zone which is mandatory evacuation. it is susceptible to 10—12 metre storm surge. what is the consequence of ignoring a mandatory evacuation order? if we have an emergency and

need to call the emergency services we would not be given priority. they may not even be able to commit to help us because we ignored the mandatory evacuation. what experience have had in the past of hurricane is? absolutely none, i have lived in fort myers for ten years and this is the first we have experienced. we have had some tropical storms but never anything like this. what preparations have you made? you talked about the strength of the architecture of your home but what other preparations have made? we have plenty of supplies in and flashlights and torches. we have food and we have located oliver personal belongings to the second story of house. if there's a storm surge and floods the bottom floor it is what is. we had three vehicles and we had won an

hour ago march and one in the neighbours' garage. apart from praying and stocking up on wine i think we are good. yes, i imagine that would comfort you a little. how anxious are you all feeling?” that would comfort you a little. how anxious are you all feeling? i am pretty anxious. it has been coming and going, feeling bulky and then really concerned. we are at home with my son and my husband but our daughter is at university near tampa and she has been evacuated sushi is in that part of the campus. we are worried for her as well. michelle, we will be thinking of you, thank you for talking to us. michelle

churchill in fort myers, stay safe and we will speak to you on the other side of it. thank you. jane o'brien has the latest from miami in southern florida. iam i am surprised we can even hear you andi i am surprised we can even hear you and i am surprised you're standing up and i am surprised you're standing up straight. more to the point i am surprised i can hear you because the sound from the water, the wind, everything, is just absolutely deafening, and added to that a fire alarm has started to go off. it is 90 mph winds on the ground. up on the fourth floor balcony which is a p pa re ntly the fourth floor balcony which is apparently more sheltered, they are probably in excess of 100. this is a storm that even though we have skirted the eye of the storm it is still battling miami. i want to give you an idea of the power of the wind and the rain, because right behind

me isa and the rain, because right behind me is a lake that about an hour and a half ago you could still see the ground under the area it is flooded. it has come right over the bank and is encroaching into the car park and the water is continuing to rise. that is what we are also seeing. the roads close to the coast are flooding rapidly and the water is still rising. if you can hear me, how many people in the city have decided to stay put? it's very hard to know the exact numbers at this point. we know that many thousands have decided to leave. something like 100,000 people are now taking refuge in shelters and we have seen the largest evacuation in florida's history. people are just migrating

north trying to get out of the path of the storm as it came up from the florida keys and hit the southern peninsula and is now revealing up the west coast. it has been an extraordinary migration of people but at this point the government is saying stay put. don't come back to miami and the storm is over and if you're caught stay put and seek shelter, try and stay safe. thank you very much, get out of that terrible and if you can. i don't know how she is smiling. we can speak to the disaster response coordinator at nasa. thank you for joining us. what is happening with these hurricane is that is different from usual? they seem to be hanging around a great deal, is that right? the conditions are right for

hurricane information and we are trying to look at how these storms move and intensify using satellites and dearborn assets to get at the intensification mechanisms. what is causing this to happen? can you explain from the conditions in the ocean what might be to blame? we are looking at some different factors. we have been really warm waters and we have seen this hurricane continually intensified because of the warm water in the golf as well as the atlantic. we also had the winds and rain fall that really conducive to creating the conditions for these storms to move. hurricane irma is slowly moving up so we are keeping our eye on the rainfall accumulation and the wind speeds, to use satellites to figure out how places on the ground might sustain flooding or other impacts which we can translate and useful operational support by our partners.|j

can translate and useful operational support by our partners. i think you have got some graphics you can she was which explain how nasa tries to understand the mechanisms at work, how the hurricane is develop and intensified. one tool we how the hurricane is develop and intensified. one toolwe have how the hurricane is develop and intensified. one tool we have two monitor this is an international mission from nasa and japan and this is from september five when it was a category five storm in the atlantic. we can see the storm in three dimensions, the really intense rain out to the spiralling bands and that tells us about the hurricane heat engine and right now gives us clues as to how the storm might impact land. what in particular will you be looking at with regards to hurricane irma but also hurricane hosiery...

jose which is following up behind. using international and domestic satellites allows us to understand the structure of the storms in a way thatis the structure of the storms in a way that is very important for groups like the national hurricane centre to improve their forecasts. we are looking not only at the storm's structure but looking at imagery before and after the storm passes to get an idea of the damage from the impact and flooding and that is used to support our operational partners. how foolproof are these tools because sometimes hurricane is surprise you and the change direction? absolutely and one of the important things as having multiple different tools looking at this storm and those are used to contribute to the models and we have many different models. by being able to continually update those models with the information from satellites makes it very powerful to refine that forecast and give you what you're right now which is the 48

hour forecast that the national hurricane centre generates sort is notjust one hurricane centre generates sort is not just one tool but a whole suite of information we can use to diagnose from the lisa said what is happening but that our operational partners can use to create evacuation warnings as we are seeing right now with florida. it must be very exciting but also immensely perilous, these flights that go into the storm system to record a measure what is happening in the hurricane. how important is that date for a year? we send it hurricane hunters to fly over these storms and we also have unmanned vehicle assets flying above the storm that allow us to look at the storm and even send information to estimate wind speeds and that is very important for getting real—time readings on how the storm might identify. when you couple that with satellite data you

get a better understanding notjust of precipitation structure and wind speeds but also the whole situation, the sea surface temperatures, weren't what might be warmer than create more fuel for this to them —— to intensifying get bigger than it already is. we have seen reports from the bahamas were the low pressure has sucked the ocean away from islands like long island. that is extraordinary to watch, the water has gone somewhere, how fast will come back in? that is an important forecasting question and we leave those to noah. we can monitor the potential surge and by looking at the distribution of water in these storms, with satellites like the global precipitation measurement mission, we can get a sense of where the energy is being stored in this storm and that gives us insight into

not only the pressure that the storm might be generating but also the inland coastal flooding that we saw so inland coastal flooding that we saw so predominantly with hurricane hardly in texasjust so predominantly with hurricane hardly in texas just a couple of weeks ago. absolutely fascinating, thank you so much for explaining the methodology you use. before hurricane irma hit florida it battered many islands. these are the pictures from cuba. coastal communities and tourist resorts in northern cuba have suffered widespread damage. the rescued dozens of residents in neighbourhoods flooded by huge waves. the state—run newspaper described the storm surges as the highest ever seen in the city. a short while ago we heard from cuba

correspondent will durant who brought us the latest from the storm cleared up in havana. the streets resemble canals at the moment after hurricane erma brought this storm surge over the sea wall, that you can see at the end of the street. but is havana's famous seafront boulevard, and it brought all of the water right to this point, 34 blocks away from the sea wall. people have been emerging to check on their neighbours and begin the clean—up operation. emergency services are already here, the red cross and military police, so quite a big state presence already. we saw them take away a body but we don't know the details of what happened. by know the details of what happened. by and large, there has not been the loss of life seen elsewhere in the caribbean, that much we do now. this

has been very painful for cuba caribbean, that much we do now. this has been very painfulfor cuba in terms of property damage, damage to property and livelihoods. it seems hurricane erma may have knocked cuba's economy just as hurricane erma may have knocked cuba's economyjust as hard as pet the coastline. has the foreign secretary boris johnson has been speaking today and he said they were concerned about every island and there would now be a military operation as an as they possibly can. i havejust a military operation as an as they possibly can. i have just come out of cobra and we have been discussing the situation in the overseas territories were things continue to be very grim indeed but we are getting a huge amount of aid in and 500 uk troops in the region. as we speak, more than 50 british police are on theirway speak, more than 50 british police are on their way to the british virgin islands and other places. things are improving but we are

concerned about every island in the region and we have to make sure anguilla, first to receive aid, does not slot behind, so we are sending a military operation as soon as we possibly can. part of the reason you are sending troops is because there's a level of criminality, how bad are things? there has been across the region affected by hurricane irma, looting. across the region. i have just spoken to the governor, where things are improving. you have 125 british troops walking around working with the local police, and that has had a massive psychological effect. that is very positive and we have encouraged and we will not say things are altogether sorted out because the situation remains

difficult but it is improving and the question is what can we do to help in anguilla. we will be sending any military operation as soon as we can. iwant any military operation as soon as we can. i want to stress that we are contributing a lot of money, 32 million we have announced. we will be matching anybody's to make via the red cross, but i also want to stress this isjust the red cross, but i also want to stress this is just the beginning. the red cross, but i also want to stress this isjust the beginning. a terrible thing has happened to british overseas territories. these are british people and we are here for the long term and we will come through with a recovery plan working with partners in the region. we will come through with a recovery plan and we will make sure they get back on their feet again. the foreign secretary making a statement after that emergency cobra meeting today. let's show you the live pictures from naples on the west of florida. you can see how violently storms

i've even though hurricane irma has been downgraded to a category three hurricane. it still means it is carrying winds of 120 mph. they are saying it will remain a very powerful storm as it moves along florida's west coast. parts of the coast are now under the evacuation order. some people missed their chance and some people opted not to leave but it means that they have decided to stay put, if they get into trouble they will not be a priority when it comes to being rescued, if they call the emergency services. presuming the emergency services. presuming the emergency services can reach them. these are the latest pictures in naples at the moment and behind hurricane irma out in the atlantic, hurricanjose, which nasa are keeping an eye on this weekend. many have arrived hungry and

traumatised. the latest violence began when rohingya —— is the sprawling refugee camps have become mud baths. hundreds of thousands of rohingya refugees live in filthy hovels and whatever land they can find, yet every day these makeshift camps grow

and grow and grow. this man claims he was involved in one of the attacks that started all of this. in the village we agreed, if we do nothing, the world will never know about our plight. he says he was in charge of a small group of men from his village who wanted to ta ke men from his village who wanted to take action against what he says was systematic persecution by the government and local buddhists. the militants came to our village and gave us bombs. every village was given to as the bombs like this. we planted the bombs, one exploded, but no soldier died. this is what happens next. the government of my anger claimed there were dozens of attacks on police and army posts on

august 25. these pictures were given to the bbc by refugees. they claimed to the bbc by refugees. they claimed to show what myanmar calls its anti—terrorist clearance operation. look, says the man. the soldiers are coming in helicopters and jeeps, they are coming to kill us. we cannot verify in the footage in this report but the story is the refugees tell are remarkably similar. this is what the de facto leader of myanmar has to say about human suffering. the nobel peace prize winner told an audience back in 2012 that wherever thatis audience back in 2012 that wherever that is suffering, there are the seeds of conflict, because she says suffering degrades and betters and in regions. across the border in myanmar we saw three big fires

burning today. boards of officials told us they had seen helicopters hovering before the smoke began to rise. meanwhile the myanmar continue to pour into bangladesh bringing the few belongings they could salvage. a senior un figure told me they are now expecting as many as half a million people will come. the children were residents of the smyllum care home run by catholic nuns until