MIAMI The remnants of Hurricane Irma swept north through

Florida on Monday, leaving behind a trail of debris, flooding and

power outages after the storm roared up the states Gulf Coast and
brought its drenching rainfall and battering winds on toward Georgia.

Irma weakened Monday to a tropical storm, losing some of its punch

but still packing powerful winds that stretched from central Florida to
North Carolina.

As the storm roared through Florida, thrashing winds tore down trees
and power lines alike, and by Monday afternoon officials said the
storm may have cut power to a majority of the states 20.6 million
residents.

More than half of the population of Florida is out of power would be

my guess, Eric Silagy, president and chief executive of Florida Power
and Light, the states largest utility, said at a news briefing Monday.

[Graphic: What Irma is leaving behind]

Silagy said as many as 9 million people are affected by his companys
outages and while it supplies power to about half the state, it is not
the states sole utility. Florida officials say two-thirds of all power
company customers statewide lack power, totaling more than 6.5
million customer accounts. Since each account can represent more
than one person, the number of people who lost power may be
historic, Silagy said.

Weve never had that many outages. I dont think any utility in the
country has, he said.

Silagy also cautioned that some people could be out of power for
weeks, particularly if crews need to rebuild parts of the system. The
utility had sent out 19,500 workers across Florida to restore power,
Silagy said. The utility is also trying to secure more line and vegetation
crews from out of state.

But because of the storms size, crews were not able to start restoration
efforts until late last night, and they are still not able to move across
northern Florida. He also said debris is strewn throughout the state.

This is a storm that has probably produced more debris than weve
ever seen in the history of storms, he said. Weve had 10 years of
growth that got pruned yesterday from Hurricane Irma, and
unfortunately a lot of that ended up on our power lines.

Play Video 1:54

Watch timelapse video of Hurricane Irma's destruction in Miami
Timelapse video from Sept. 9 through Sept. 10 shows Hurricane Irma's destruction in
Miami. (Elyse Samuels, Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post)
Even as millions waited to see when power companies could navigate
debris-strewn roads and restore their access to electricity and with
it, things such as air conditioning and refrigeration Irma surged
ever onward, sweeping rain bands through Floridas core and
threatening a dangerous storm surge in the populous Tampa Bay area
and along the Gulf Coast.

Torrential rain fell in the Florida panhandle, as well as Alabama,

Georgia and the Carolinas.

The storm had spent the weekend hammering South Florida with rain
and wind before it made landfall twice on Sunday first in the Florida
Keys, then on Marco Island along the states southwestern coast as
it lumbered northward. Irmas fury tore apart homes, flooded the
Keys, swelled rivers to dangerous levels and, even as it weakened to a
 Category 1 hurricane and then a tropical storm on Monday, it was far
from through.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said the city was spared a punch in the
face as Irma swung farther to the west. But he told MSNBCs
Morning Joe program that emergency teams were deployed to keep
people off the streets when that surge comes.

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Full radar loop showing the trek of Hurricane #IRMA through the #FL peninsula since
very early Sunday morning. #flwx #NWS#NHC
7:36 AM - Sep 11, 2017

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In a sign of Irmas sheer size, South Florida spared a direct hit many
had feared before the storm shifted to the west was still catching its
breath Monday as Irma pelted Tampa with tropical-storm winds and,
hundreds of miles to the east, flooded Jacksonville. In Tallahassee, the
capital tucked into the panhandle, forecasters warned that strong
winds would continue into Monday afternoon.

Irma is expected to keep losing force as its heads inland, and

forecasters say it should be a tropical depression by Tuesday
afternoon. But the storm maintained its remarkable reach Monday,
with tropical-storm-force winds reaching more than 400 miles.

One positive forecast for Florida: The rain threat had diminished for
most of Florida by Monday, save the northernmost portions, with
scattered showers expected during the day, according to the National
Hurricane Center.

As the storm headed to Georgia and parts north, that state also
hunkered down, as Irma was forecast to deliver rain up to 15 inches
of it in some places to go with tropical-storm-force winds.

In Atlanta, Delta Air Lines canceled about 800 flights from its hub
operations Monday in anticipation of strong crosswinds, which
could reverberate through the air travel system
nationwide. Thousands of flights have already been halted due to the
storm. Atlanta, hundreds of miles from any coast, and more than 600
miles north of the place where Irma first hit the mainland, was placed
under its first tropical-storm warning.
What Irmas wind and water did to Florida VIEW GRAPHIC
[Irmas wrath: Dramatic images from the hurricane]
In Miami on Monday morning, dawn brought some welcome light to
after a blustery night. Power was out most everywhere. The storm
had finally left after a stronger-than-expected blow that lasted all day
Sunday and left the metropolis looking shredded.

The residents of the Royal Duke trailer court in the Allapattah

neighborhood of Miami were just happy to see their homes still
standing Monday. Many of them evacuated thinking their mobile
homes would be no match for Irma, and they were surprised to see the
storm weaken just enough to spare their homes. So the mood at the
park on Monday was almost festive.

Neighbors were out, talking in Spanish, laughing and helping one

another clean up the tree debris. Their power was still out Monday, so
none wanted to be inside. Children were riding their bikes and one
family was making beans and baleadas a Honduran bread on
their outdoor grill for everyone.

Kat Suarezs family home took a large tree trunk to its roof. The roof of
the two-bedroom house was damaged, but the tree didnt puncture the
homes ceiling.

We didnt think this was going to make it, said Suarez, whose family
has lived in the home since before she was born. Its bad, but it wasnt
as bad as we thought. I didnt think it was going to be here when we
got back.

Play Video 1:14

'Pray for us:' Floridians hunker down as Irma hits
Packing 130 mile-an-hour winds, Hurricane Irma battered Florida on Sept. 10,
knocking out power in more than one million homes and businesses. (Reuters)
Some had decided to stay in the area, riding out the storm together,
making a party of it as they drank with their neighbors.

I stayed here so I could tell everyone what happened, said Victoria

Barrella.

The storm had hit Cudjoe Key at 9:10 a.m. on Sunday. Key West
farther south, at the end of the chain endured hours of unrelenting
rain and high winds, which seemed to peak at about 7 a.m. Though the
hurricane felled many trees on the small island and caused some
property damage, predictions of potentially catastrophic storm surges
and flooding did not materialize.

Officials estimated that about 25 percent of Key Wests residents

stayed through the storm despite evacuation orders. Several people on
the island said they felt like they got lucky because the storm wasnt as
bad as expected, but they were in the dark once Irma moved on: There
was no power, water or cellphone service as of Sunday evening,
meaning there was almost no way to communicate with the outside
world.