In the United States, hurricane Irma made landfall on Florida's southern islands today and claimed three lives as millions of people, including thousands of Indian-Americans, evacuated the state in the wake of the storm. The storm has left a trail of death and destruction across the Caribbean. Hurling 210 kilometres per hour winds, Irma struck Florida Keys as it barrelled towards the US state's west coast where millions of people have evacuated turning many places into ghost towns.<br/><br/>Irma later weakened slightly to a Category Three storm from Category Four as it moved past the Keys, packing maximum winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour.<br/>The Hurricane center said that the threat of catastrophic storm surge flooding is highest along the southwest coast of Florida, where 10 to 15 feet of inundation above ground level is expected and this is a life-threatening situation.<br/>As the Category four storm bore down on Florida this morning, at least three deaths were reported in the state.<br/>More than 6.3 million people were told to evacuate Florida. <br/><br/>Irma has already devastated parts of the Caribbean with over 25 deaths. About 60 Indian nationals are being evacuated from the vacation island of St Martin in the Caribbean.<br/>Around 120,000 Indian-Americans reside across Florida while thousands of them live in the now-dangerous zones of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.<br/>Indian-Americans in Atlanta and neighbouring areas today opened up their homes for their friends, families and community members from Florida, as catastrophic hurricane Irma made landfall on the state's southern islands.<br/>The Indian Embassy in the US has opened a round-the-clock helpline number and rushed senior diplomats to Atlanta to lead relief efforts for Indian-Americans stuck in the region.<br/>US President Donald Trump reviewed preparedness with his cabinet colleagues at Camp David in Maryland. He asked federal and state agencies expedite assistance to affected areas.<br/><br/>US Army has so far deployed more than 7,400 soldiers and US Army Corps of Engineers civilians on the US Virgin<br/>Islands, Puerto Rico, and the continental US.<br/><br/>The Pentagon said the Army has over 140 aircraft, 650 trucks, 150 boats prepared along with additional resources on standby.