Hurricane Irma could have hit Florida harder had it not slammed Cuba and weakened in the final stages before approaching the Sunshine State.
Irma – which devastated Caribbean Islands last week as the most powerful recorded storm in the open Atlantic – made landfall in Florida over the weekend considerably weaker than it was expected to be.
It was downgraded from Category 5 to Category 4 hurricane once it neared U.S. mainland and lost some of its power after slamming the northern coast of Cuba. While still a dangerous and potent hurricane, Irma’s winds dropped to 115 mph as it made landfall in Florida.
As well as decreasing winds, the hurricane avoided taking possibly the most destructive path along the Florida Peninsula, including Miami and the Atlantic seaboard. – READ MORE
[contentcards url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/11/hurricane-irma-could-have-been-worse-experts-claim.html” target=”_blank”]