Hurricane Irma Has Left a Trail of Destruction

Before Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida over the weekend, the hurricane devastated islands in the Caribbean. At least 37 people have died in the Carribean, according to BBC, and the death toll is still rising.

Barbuda first felt the storm's power, as the Category 5 hurricane damaged 95 percent of buildings on the small island. The prime minister called the island “barely habitable.”

Thousands in the Caribbean islands have been left homeless, and initial estimates of damage top $10 billion.

As a Category 5 storm, Irma cut across the northern coast of Cuba, where at least 10 people were killed, according to The Guardian.

Irma has shattered records, both for its scale and the number of people it has affected. Some 6.3 million people were instructed to evacuate in Florida alone, according to The Telegraph. The storm has spanned 70,000 square miles, and saw wind speeds of 185 miles per hour for 37 hours.

Miami's streets turned into rushing rivers, as storm surge alerts were in place throughout much of the state. Air traffic above Florida ceased over the weekend, and Miami International Airport announced no passenger flights would be scheduled for Monday. Miami typically handles on average more than 1,000 flights per day.

In Florida, Credit Suisse estimated that damage from the storm could cost $125 billion, CNBC reported, while other analysts estimated the losses as high as $300 billion.

Hurricane Irma made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast Sunday as a Category 4 storm, with high winds, torrential rains, and devastating flooding.

The storm has slowly weakened as it traveled up the Florida coast, and was officially downgraded on Monday morning to a tropical storm. In its wake, it has left some 5.8 million homes and businesses in the state without power, Reuters reported.

The storm is expected to move through the Florida panhandle and on to Georgia and Alabama by Monday night, with winds topping 85 miles per hour.