South Florida braces for the worst as 'nuclear hurricane' nears
MIAMI - Hurricane Irma took aim at South Florida on Thursday, threatening millions with historic winds, huge storm surges and unrelenting rainfall as it left behind a trail of still-uncharted devastation in the Caribbean and a death toll that climbed to at least 13.
As the monster Category 5 storm tracked west-northwest with 175-mph winds, the caprices of wind and water saved impoverished Haiti and the Dominican Republic from a direct hit. But Irma bore down late Thursday on other Caribbean targets: the low-lying Turks and Caicos, and parts of the Bahamas.
Meanwhile, the peril to the U.S. mainland grew.
"It has become more likely that Irma will make landfall in southern Florida as a dangerous major
