Hurricane Irma began its destructive barrage on Florida on Saturday, with brutal leading winds flattening trees and knocking out power across the southern tip of the state in what residents feared were the opening blows of a historically devastating storm. More than 6.3 million people were told to evacuate Florida, with warnings of a huge storm surge that would be "life-threatening" to anyone in its path. The storm has now lost its strength, weakening to a tropical storm from being a Category 1 Hurricane, although it still produced "some wind gusts to near hurricane force."