Traffic heads north along the Florida Turnpike near Homestead, Fla., as tourists leave the Florida Keys on Wednesday.
This image taken at 7: 15 a.m. Wednesday shows Hurricane Irma tracking over Saint Martin and the Leeward Islands, and its projected path to Florida.
A man surveys the wreckage on his property after the passing of Hurricane Irma, in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, Wednesday. Heavy rain and 185-mph winds lashed the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico's northeast coast as Irma, the strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever measured, roared through Caribbean islands on its way to a possible hit on South Florida.
A boy brings his father's wooden boat ashore as a precaution against Hurricane Irma, in the seaside slum of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Wednesday. The northern parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti could get 10 inches of rain.
Ron Fogle, 61, of Tennessee, tells his mother, Marian, that he was unable to get a seat on a flight and that he would have to rent a car and drive them to Tennessee, on Wednesday at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Fla. Fogle traveled to Tampa to pick up his mother before the arrival of Hurricane Irma.
Jesse Dewey fills sandbags at a public works site as he prepares for Hurricane Irma on Wednesday in Casselberry, Fla. Throughout Florida, officials and residents are making preparations, but forecasts indicate the Keys could take the mainland's first blow from the Category 5 storm.
Motorists head north of Tavernier, Fla., on U.S. Route 1 in anticipation of Hurricane Irma on Wednesday. Keys officials announced a mandatory evacuation Wednesday for visitors, with residents being told to leave the next day.
People leave a store with water and necessities in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irma on Wednesday in North Miami.
Drivers wait in line for gasoline in Altamonte Springs, Fla., in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Irma, on Wednesday.
Nation & World 
