Hurricane Irma weakens to Category 1 storm but threat still continues

Hurricane Irma weakened to a Category 1 storm early on Monday as it marched up the US state of Florida's northwestern coast, with its eye located about 40 kilometers northeast of the vulnerable Tampa area.

Maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 85 miles per hour as of 2:00 am local time, with Irma projected to become a tropical storm as it moved into northern Florida or southern Georgia later today.

Havana : A man walks on Havana's sea wall as the ocean crashes into el Morro light house, after the passing of Hurricane Irma in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017.

Warnings of dangerous storm surges remained in effect through vast swaths of peninsular Florida, where more than six million people had been ordered to flee Irma in one of the biggest evacuations in US history.