Airlines scramble, traffic in tangle as Florida residents hurry out of Irma's way

Washington

WHETHER by plane, car or train, hundreds of thousands of people scrambled to get out of south Florida on Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Irma, a storm system forecasters say is the most powerful to hit the Atlantic Coast in more than a decade.

The storm, with maximum sustained winds near 298 kph, moved over the Leeward Islands on Wednesday morning, and then on to the northern Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Forecasters say it will reach south Florida sometime between Friday night and Monday.