#Hurricane_Irma: Mayor of Miami warns residents, tourists to 'get out now' • Disney world to be closed

The mayor of Miami Beach has urged tourists and residents to 'get out' of the area and officials are considering closing two nuclear power plants as the devastating Hurricane Irma heads for Florida.

The Mayor issued mandatory evacuation orders starting Thursday morning for barrier islands and low-lying mainland areas in the metro area of 6 million, where forecasters predict the hurricane with winds of 180 mph could strike by early Sunday.

Miami Mayor Philip Levine called Irma a 'nuclear hurricane' and stressed that everyone in the mandatory evacuation zones 'must leave'.

The evacuation of coastal Miami is the second mandatory evacuation ordered ahead of Irma's landfall. On Wednesday, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic on U.S. Route 1, from Key West to Key Largo, as visitors and residents alike followed orders to flee the Florida Keys.


Florida Gov. Rick Scott has strongly urged his citizens to evacuate if they are asked to do so by local officials, but said the evacuations will not be enforced. That means they won't be going door to door and arresting people who fail to evacuate.

The mandatory evacuation is the first for Miami since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

There have also been some fears that Disney World will be forced to close if the storm straight up the state to Orlando.

Irma is a category 5 hurricane with winds of 180mph.