HIALEAH, Fla. – Alicia Alonso spent the night at her home in Hialeah. The last time her friends heard from her was about 9 a.m. Sunday.
While Hurricane Irene unleashed its rage on Florida, there were tornadoes damaging trees and homes in the sixth-largest city of the state -- population 236,000.
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Alonso, 40, was able to log on to Facebook. Her last post: "Not doing that well, my roof blew off."
Local 10 News reporter Christian De La Rosa was on his way to check up on her home, after Irma plowed into the Florida Keys and then headed to Naples as a Category 4 storm.
Hialeah's Department of Public Works were warning residents that they were going to experience sewer overflows, after the sewer regional pump station at 3250 W. 80 St. lost power.
"The department responded to the station and decided it was not safe to work under the current weather conditions and will wait for the winds to subside before responding again," the city's statement said.
The areas affected are north of Northwest 138 Street to Northwest 154 Street and east of Northwest 97 Avenue to Interstate 75. The area North of West 52nd Street to Northwest 138th Street, from West 20th Avenue to West 36 Avenue.
Meteorologists watched Irma become one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the open Atlantic -- with a peak wind speed of 185 mph -- last week. Authorities linked at least 20 people dead across the Caribbean.
The storm weakened before aiming for Florida and on Saturday afternoon a wind speed meter at Miami International Airport recorded the outer bands beating Miami-Dade peaked at 90 mph. In Collier County, the winds were at 150 mph.
There were a couple of more bands still coming over Hialeah and they were expected to get the end of the storm about 10 p.m.
Lawrence Pena, who sought shelter in a warehouse in Hialeah's commercial sector, said about 2 p.m. there were hard wind gusts, fallen trees, the power was down and it was getting really hot inside.
Pena described the sound of the storm as "creepy whistling." And while dealing with three roof leaks, he said "the worst is yet to come."
Social media posts from Hialeah