(In Sept. 13 item, updates to correct spelling of the last name of Michael Beason from Benson, in 19th paragraph and throughout) 
 
 By Andrew Innerarity and Ricardo Ortiz 
 
 HOLLYWOOD, Fla./SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott vowed on Wednesday that the state would aggressively investigate how six people died at a nursing home that lost power when Hurricane Irma rampaged through the region, as millions coped with another day without electricity. 
 
 The death toll from the storm approached 80 as officials continued to assess the damage after Irma powered through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record and slammed into the Florida Keys archipelago with sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour). 
 
 Irma killed at least 36 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to officials. Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power on Wednesday in Florida and nearby states. 
 
 Police opened a criminal investigation at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, north of Miami, where three elderly residents were found dead at the facility and three later died at a nearby hospital, officials said. 
 
 “I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a statement. “This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe.” 
 
 More than 100 patients at the nursing home were evacuated on Wednesday along with 18 patients from a nearby facility that was cleared due to the criminal investigation, Hollywood officials said. 
 
 “Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues,” Randy Katz, a spokesman for Memorial Regional Hospital, told reporters. Memorial Regional is located across the street from the nursing home. 
 
 Police were first called to the facility at about 4:30 a.m. but did not arrive until after 6 a.m., officials said. 
 
 The center had been without air conditioning, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday. 
 
 “The building has been sealed off and we are conducting a criminal investigation inside,” Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. “It was very hot on the second floor.” 
 
 Florida Power & Light said it had provided power to some parts of the Hollywood nursing home but that the facility was not on a county top tier list for emergency power restoration. 
 
 The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is pictured in Hollywood, Florida, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri 
 
 NEW DAMAGE ESTIMATES 
 
 Irma caused about $25 billion in insured losses, including $18 billion in the United States and $7 billion in the Caribbean, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co estimated on Wednesday. 
 
 The Florida Keys were particularly hard hit, with federal officials saying that 25 percent of homes were destroyed and 65 percent suffered major damage when Irma barreled ashore on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane. 
 
 Most residents had left by then and police have barred re-entry to most of the Keys to allow more time to restore electricity and medical service and bring water, food and fuel. 
 
 Slideshow (13 Images) 
 
 “I don’t have a house. I don’t have a job. I have nothing,” said Mercedes Lopez, 50, whose family fled north from the Keys town of Marathon on Friday and rode out the storm at an Orlando hotel, only to learn their home was destroyed, along with the gasoline station where Lopez worked. 
 
 President Donald Trump is due to visit the region on Thursday. 
 
 ‘EVERYTHING IS GONE’ 
 
 Irma wreaked total devastation in parts of the Caribbean, where at least 43 people have died. 
 
 People who fled their homes in hard-hit islands including St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were all but cut off from the world for days arrived in San Juan late Tuesday. 
 
 Michael Beason, 65, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he lost everything. 
 
 “My house, my business, both my vehicles, everything is gone,” said Beason, who was stopping in San Juan before continuing to Boston to seek refuge with his wife’s brother. 
 
 “But we have life. We rode out that horrible storm in a shower that I had reinforced after Hurricane Marilyn,” Beason added. “I told the man (who installed the shower), I told him, ‘If the hurricane takes the rest of my house, I want this shower sticking up out of that slab like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum. And sure enough that’s what’s left.” 
 
 Irma hit the United States about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, killing about 60 and causing some $180 billion in damage, mostly from flooding. ||||| Hurricane Irma claimed another life in Florida on Monday when a man was electrocuted in Winter Park by a downed power line, police said. 
 
 The body of Brian Buwalda, 51, was found at about 7:20 a.m. at Leith and Westchester avenues, two blocks east of Orange Avenue, officers said. 
 
 The Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine his official cause of death. 
 
 Buwalda was an accountant who lived in Orlando, public records show 
 
 In another local death, as Hurricane Irma approached Central Florida Sunday at about 7 p.m., the left side of a Cadillac sport utility vehicle hit a guardrail on State Road 417, killing the driver. 
 
 The Florida Highway Patrol Monday identified her as Heidi Zehner, 50, of Orlando. She was wearing her seat belt, troopers said. 
 
 At least two other deaths occurred during the storm or its aftermath. 
 
 Florida Department of Corrections Officer Sgt. Joseph Ossman, 53, and Hardee County Deputy Sheriff Julie Ann Bridges, 42, were both killed when they collided head-on on State Road 66 in Zolfo Springs, a small town in Hardee County, Sunday about 6:30 a.m. 
 
 Ossman of Sebring was on his way to work at the Hardee County Correctional Institute. Bridges, who lived in Wauchula, was on her way home, reportedly after finishing her shift at a hurricane shelter. 
 
 sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-540-5981 ||||| (CNN) As night fell Tuesday, many people from South Carolina to Florida were staying in darkened homes, dealing with fallen trees and blocked roadways, and hoping they could find gas. 
 
 The situation in the Sunshine State was trying the patience of people who rode out the storm and those who came home after evacuating Hurricane Irma's path to find widespread devastation and access to their neighborhoods limited at times. 
 
 Power outages in Florida affected almost 5 million homes, organizations and businesses, among them gas stations, which need the electricity to keep pumps working. 
 
 Two days after Irma made landfall on Cudjoe Key, authorities and a few residents were finally able to reach some of the Florida Keys on Tuesday. 
 
 What they found was devastating: Based on initial estimates, 25% of the houses on the chain of islands have been destroyed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday. Another 65% suffered major damage. 
 
 "Basically, every house in the Keys was impacted some way," FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. 
 
 But Key West City Manager Jim Scholl told CNN that FEMA's estimates might be high. The damage in his city and in his neighborhood on Cudjoe Key didn't match those dire numbers, he said. 
 
 The biggest challenge in Key West is moving debris out of the roadways. Scholl said he felt sympathy for the people who want to come home, but aren't being allowed this far south because of issues with the water infrastructure. The area is under a boil water advisory. 
 
 "That's why we don't want people to, en masse, return down here to the Keys. And we certainly understand the frustration," he said. "Everyone wants to get down here and check out their homes." 
 
 It's a long wait for those sifting through what's left of their homes throughout Florida in the oppressive heat and high humidity -- doing so while they wait for the power, and thus the air conditioning, to come back on. 
 
 All customers who lost electricity on the eastern side of the state will likely have power restored by the end of this weekend, because fewer electrical poles came down in the storm, Florida Power & Light said Tuesday. 
 
 An FPL official told reporters at a Broward County news conference that of the 790,000 customers in that county who lost power, 330,000 had their electricity restored Tuesday. 
 
 The company is focusing its efforts first on schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure. Gas stations and restaurants are next on the plan, the official said. 
 
 Customers on the west coast of Florida, where Hurricane Irma made its final landfall, will likely have power restored by September 22, the company has said. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Cuomo: Nothing left untouched in the Keys Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Cuomo: Nothing left untouched in the Keys 01:30 
 
 But residents like William Rose have bigger concerns. Rose still can't reach his family on the Florida Keys, where about a quarter of the islands' houses are annihilated. 
 
 He's not sure whether his mother, stepdad, grandmother and aunt survived Irma's wrath. 
 
 "I have no idea, but I'm trying to stay positive," Rose said. 
 
 Before the Keys lost cellphone service, Rose received a text from his mother, who chose not to evacuate. 
 
 "This is terrible. I will never do this again," the text read. "I'm so glad you got out." 
 
 Roadwork in the Keys 
 
 The Florida Department of Transportation said Tuesday night it has determined the bridges between the islands are structurally sound. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Widespread destruction in the Florida Keys Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Widespread destruction in the Florida Keys 01:19 
 
 Transportation officials said two sections of US 1 that were washed away by Irma, one at mile marker 37 and the other at mile marker 75, have been repaired. 
 
 Darwin Tabacco, who stayed on Big Pine Key during Irma, is one of the fortunate residents. Both he and his house survived. 
 
 "A lot of people lost everything," he said Tuesday morning. "There's homes blown off the stilts. There's power lines down all over the place. Trees completely uprooted. People's businesses flooded. Septic fields flooding. It's just terrible." 
 
 Millions without power 
 
 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Children clean a dirty mattress from a flooded home in Immokalee, Florida, on Thursday, September 14. Hurricane Irma laid waste to beautiful Caribbean islands and caused historic destruction across Florida. The cleanup will take weeks; recovery will take months. Hide Caption 1 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida On September 14, President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and first lady Melania Trump hand out food to people impacted by Hurricane Irma in Naples, Florida. Hide Caption 2 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Debris litters the area around a group of homes in the Florida Keys on Wednesday, September 13. Hide Caption 3 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Lake County jail inmates fill sandbags in Astor, Florida, on September 13. Hide Caption 4 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A classic Volkswagen sits in floodwaters September 13 in Middleburg, Florida. Flooding from the Black Creek topped the previous high-water mark by about 7 feet. Hide Caption 5 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida James Wade checks for water-damaged items as floodwaters recede in Middleburg on September 13. Hide Caption 6 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Floodwaters surround vehicles in Callahan, Florida, on Tuesday, September 12. Hide Caption 7 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Jose Encarnacion pulls a chicken from a cage as he gathers belongings from his flooded house in Bonita Springs, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 8 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Joseph Dupuis III stacks boxes off the floor in his parents' water-logged apartment in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 9 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Motorists in Estero, Florida, fill gas cans September 12, moments before police shut the station down because of a curfew. Hide Caption 10 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Mike Gilbert and his daughter Brooke embrace in front of a relative's destroyed condominium building in the Florida Keys on September 12. Hide Caption 11 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Members of the US Coast Guard operate in floodwaters during rescue missions in Hastings, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 12 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Waist-deep in floodwater, Shelly Hughes gets her first look at the inside of her camper in Arcadia, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 13 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, a house slides into the Atlantic Ocean in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Monday, September 11. Hide Caption 14 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Richard Shieldhouse maneuvers through storm-surge floodwaters in Jacksonville on September 11. Hide Caption 15 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Mario Valentine sits in his badly damaged home in Immokalee on September 11. Hide Caption 16 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Boats are partially submerged in Key Largo, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 17 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Chris Stokes works in the mud as he helps clean up damage to his father's convenience store in Everglades City, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 18 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Ashley Tomberg drags a tree branch from the roof of a neighbor's house in Gainesville, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 19 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Floodwaters inundate a car in Jacksonville on September 11. Hide Caption 20 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A crocodile appears at the Dinner Key Marina in Miami on September 11. Hide Caption 21 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida John Duke tries to salvage his flooded vehicle in Jacksonville on September 11. Hide Caption 22 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A van sits in a sinkhole that opened up in Winter Springs, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 23 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People check out floodwaters at Jacksonville's Memorial Park on September 11. Hide Caption 24 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Kelly McClenthen and her boyfriend, Daniel Harrison, walk through floodwaters in Bonita Springs on September 11. Hide Caption 25 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A truck drives through a flooded street in Key Largo on September 11. Hide Caption 26 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A man walks by damage in Palm Shores, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 27 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Catharine Taylor Woods cleans up a broken awning outside her building in Wauchula, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 28 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida The roof of a home is damaged in Marco Island, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 29 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Rick Freedman checks damage to his neighbor's home in Marco Island on September 11. Hide Caption 30 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Boats are partially submerged in a marina in downtown Miami on September 11. Hide Caption 31 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People step out of their flooded home in Fort Myers, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 32 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A felled tree blocks a street in downtown Miami on September 11. Hide Caption 33 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Irma damaged this gas station roof in Bonita Springs. Hide Caption 34 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Michele Snelling sleeps on couch cushions next to her 4-month-old daughter, Lauryn, at a middle school in St. Petersburg, Florida, on September 11. The school was filled with evacuees. Hide Caption 35 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Hotel guests navigate a dark stairwell after they lost power in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Hide Caption 36 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People in Cape Coral, Florida, tend to a car that flipped over during Hurricane Irma on Sunday, September 10. Hide Caption 37 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A manatee lies stranded September 10 after waters receded during Irma's approach in Manatee County, Florida. Hide Caption 38 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida High winds split this large tree in half in Fort Lauderdale. Hide Caption 39 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida An American flag is torn as Irma passes through Naples on September 10. Hide Caption 40 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A sheriff's deputy walks through a shelter in Naples after the power went out on September 10. Hide Caption 41 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A police officer walks over debris after a tornado touched down in Palm Bay, Florida, on September 10. Hide Caption 42 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Yaya Lopez holds her fiance, Howard Lopez, while they sleep in a middle-school hallway in St. Petersburg on September 10. Hide Caption 43 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Geoff Rutland, a local volunteer from Crossing Jordan Church, helps other residents get ice from a vending machine in Tampa, Florida, on September 10. Hide Caption 44 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida PJ Pike checks on his boat and one belonging to a friend in Fort Myers. Both were sitting in mud at their moorings due to an unusually low tide on September 10. Hide Caption 45 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People walk past a building in Miami where the roof was blown off by Hurricane Irma on September 10. Hide Caption 46 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida An abandoned car sits in floodwaters during a storm surge in Fort Lauderdale on September 10. Hide Caption 47 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Fallen trees block a parking lot in Fort Lauderdale on September 10. Hide Caption 48 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Sailboats moored near Watson Island ride out the winds and waves on September 10. Hide Caption 49 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Members of the Blinckman family use their personal devices in a stairwell utility closet as Hurricane Irma went over Key West, Florida, on September 10. Hide Caption 50 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Evacuees watch the weather from a shelter in Naples on September 10. Hide Caption 51 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Heavy winds and rain blow through Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 52 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel fights fierce winds and flooded streets while reporting in Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 53 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A man records the gusty winds going through downtown Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 54 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A tree lies on a pickup truck after being knocked down by the high winds in Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 55 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Hotel guests eat breakfast by lamplight after the Courtyard Marriott was left without power in Fort Lauderdale on September 10. Hide Caption 56 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Part of this crane tower collapsed in Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 57 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People sit in the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Center as Irma approached Miami on Saturday, September 9. See Hurricane Irma's impact on the Caribbean Hide Caption 58 of 58 
 
 Massive power outages are crippling much of the Southeast on Tuesday. Among the hardest hit by Irma (as of 9 p.m. ET): 
 
 Florida: About 4.4 million customers -- which includes homes, organizations and businesses -- are without power across the state, authorities said. 
 
 About 4.4 million customers -- which includes homes, organizations and businesses -- are without power across the state, authorities said. Georgia: Almost 700,000 customers are in the dark, according to Georgia Power and Georgia EMC. 
 
 Almost 700,000 customers are in the dark, according to Georgia Power and Georgia EMC. South Carolina: Almost 55,000 customers have no power, according to Duke Energy and SCE&G. 
 
 Almost 55,000 customers have no power, according to Duke Energy and SCE&G. North Carolina: More than 29,000 customers don't have electricity, according to Duke Energy. 
 
 More than 29,000 customers don't have electricity, according to Duke Energy. Alabama: More than 7,000 customers are without electricity, Alabama Power said. 
 
 9 states impacted 
 
 Irma, which stretched 650 miles from east to west, has pummeled at least nine states -- deluging city streets, knocking over trees and destroying homes along the way. 
 
 At least 16 storm-related deaths have already been reported on the US mainland, according to local officials: 
 
 Florida has reported 12 deaths, Alberto C. Moscoso, a spokesman for Florida Division of Emergency Management, said Tuesday evening. 
 
 has reported 12 deaths, Alberto C. Moscoso, a spokesman for Florida Division of Emergency Management, said Tuesday evening. Georgia had three deaths. A 62-year-old man who was on his roof was killed in Worth County, which experienced wind gusts of 69 mph. Another man was killed in Sandy Springs when a tree fell on his house. And a woman was killed when a tree struck her vehicle in Cumming. 
 
 had three deaths. A 62-year-old man who was on his roof was killed in Worth County, which experienced wind gusts of 69 mph. Another man was killed in Sandy Springs when a tree fell on his house. And a woman was killed when a tree struck her vehicle in Cumming. South Carolina had two deaths. A 57-year-old man was struck by a falling tree limb during the storm. State emergency officials said a driver with a Florida license plate also died from the storm, but did not give further details. 
 
 Flights, hospitals will be back online 
 
 While the Keys have an exhaustive recovery ahead, signs of normalcy will pop up Tuesday elsewhere in Florida. 
 
 And Florida Hospital, a health provider in the state, said it would reopen many of its impacted facilities on Tuesday or Wednesday. 
 
 Mammoth flooding 
 
 Even a weakened Irma engulfed cities as far north as Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Irma swamps Jacksonville and Charleston Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Irma swamps Jacksonville and Charleston 00:34 
 
 "I really didn't expect it to become this bad here," Charleston resident Mike Stusnick said Tuesday. "It came in really fast last night. ... We were just praying that it didn't come all the way into the house, and it didn't." 
 
 Jacksonville, Florida -- the largest city by area in the contiguous United States -- is still trying to recover from record-breaking storm surge and flooding on Monday. 
 
 More than 300 people have been rescued in Jacksonville, the governor said Tuesday. 
 
 "So many areas that you thought wouldn't flood, flooded," Scott said. 
 
 Irma's deadly trail -- and questions about climate change 
 
 Before slamming into the United States, Irma hit Cuba late Friday as a Category 5 hurricane . Irma killed 38 people in the Caribbean before heading to the United States. 
 
 This is the first year on record that the continental United States has had two Category 4 hurricane landfalls in the same year. Last month, Hurricane Harvey devastated much of coastal Texas and killed more than 70 people 
 
 At a news conference Tuesday, both the FEMA administrator and acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke avoided explicitly answering questions about whether Washington needs to focus more on climate change after Harvey and Irma 
 
 Instead, Long and Duke stressed the need for preparedness and resiliency. 
 
 Are you affected by Irma? Text, iMessage or WhatsApp your videos, photos and stories to CNN (but only if it's safe to do so): +1 347-322-0415. ||||| Bethany Kellam walks onto the southend beach of Tybee Island, Ga., Monday, Sept., 11, 2017. The National Weather Service placed most of Georgia under a tropical storm warning. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) (Associated Press) 
 
 ATLANTA (AP) — Irma weakened to a still-deadly tropical storm as it swirled beyond Florida, killing at least three people in Georgia, flooding the coast, sending trees crashing onto homes and forcing the world's busiest airport in Atlanta to cancel hundreds of flights. 
 
 The former hurricane remained an immense, 415-mile (668-kilometer) wide storm as its center moved on from Florida Monday afternoon, giving its still-formidable gusts and drenching rains a far reach. 
 
 Some 540,000 people were ordered to evacuate days earlier from Savannah and the rest of Georgia's coast. Irma sent 4 feet of ocean water into downtown Charleston, South Carolina, as the storm's center passed 250 miles (400 kilometers) away. City officials urged residents to stay off the streets. 
 
 In Atlanta, people nervously watched towering oak trees as the city, 250 miles inland, experienced its first tropical storm warning. 
 
 The body of a 62-year-old man who climbed a ladder behind his home was found under debris on the roof of his shed in southwest Georgia, where winds topped 40 mph (65 kph), Worth County sheriff's spokeswoman Kannetha Clem said. His wife had called 911 saying he'd had a heart attack. 
 
 "He was lodged between two beams and had a little bit of debris on top of him," Clem said. "He was on the roof at the height of the storm." 
 
 Another man, in his 50s, was killed just outside Atlanta when a tree fell on his house, Sandy Springs police Sgt. Sam Worsham said. 
 
 And a woman died when a tree fell on a vehicle in a private driveway, according to the website of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office. 
 
 Charles Saxon, 57, became South Carolina's first recorded death when he was struck by a tree limb while clearing debris outside his home in Calhoun Falls amid wind gusts of about 40 mph, according to a statement from Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley. 
 
 Communities along Georgia's coast were swamped by storm surge and rainfall arriving at high tide Monday afternoon. On Tybee Island east of Savannah, Holland Zellers was grabbing a kayak to reach his mother in a home near the beach. 
 
 "In the street right now, the water is knee-to-waist deep," Zeller said. 
 
 Tybee Island City Manager Shawn Gillen said waters were receding quickly, but many of the 3,000 residents' homes were flooded. 
 
 "I don't think people who have lived here a long time have ever seen flooding this bad," Gillen said. 
 
 The tidal surge sent damaged boats rushing more than three blocks onto downtown streets in St. Marys, just north of the Georgia-Florida state line, St. Marys Police Lt. Shannon Brock said. 
 
 Downtown Atlanta hotels remained full of evacuees. Many milled about the CNN Center, escaping crowded hotel rooms in search of open restaurants. Many were glued to storm coverage on the atrium's big screen. Parents pointed out familiar sites, now damaged, to their children. 
 
 "We've been here since Friday night, and we're ready to go home" to Palm Beach County, Florida, Marilyn Torrence said as her 4-year-old colored. 
 
 FORECAST 
 
 Irma weakened into a tropical depression late Monday, and the National Hurricane Center discontinued all storm surge and tropical weather watches and warnings related to the storm. Meteorologist Keith Stellman said Atlanta's airport recorded sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) with gusts up to 64 mph (103 kph). The hurricane center forecast Irma to drop 5 inches to 8 inches (13 to 20 centimeters) or rain across South Carolina and the northern regions of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi over the next two days. 
 
 TRANSIT 
 
 About 800 flights had been canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which remained operational Monday, even as many planes turned corners of the tarmac into a parking lot. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority suspended all bus and rail services Monday but said it would resume limited service Tuesday morning with plans to expand service as weather conditions improve. Downtown Atlanta's streets were eerily quiet, with restaurants, businesses and schools closed. Traffic flowed easily on the city's interstates, normally a sea of brake lights during rush hours. 
 
 POWER 
 
 Nearly 1.5 million Georgia Power and EMC customers were without power. Alabama Power reported 45,000 outages. Utilities said thousands of employees were prepared to respond, but repairs could take several days. 
 
 COASTS 
 
 Georgia's coast was largely empty less than a year after Hurricane Matthew caused $500 million in damage and killed three people last October. In Charleston, South Carolina, the ocean topped the Battery wall that typically protects downtown. Only Hurricane Hugo's direct hit in 1989 and a 1940 hurricane that hit a short way down the coast pushed higher seas. 
 
 Smaller communities also were inundated — the entire South Carolina town of Edisto Beach, population 530, was covered with several feet of water, Mayor Jane Darby said, despite a $17 million dune restoration project following Matthew's destruction. 
 
 TREES 
 
 Atlanta Parks and Recreation Commissioner Amy Phuong said six crews were responding to fallen trees around the city as winds and rain intensified. About half the city's land area is covered by trees — more than most urban areas. Savannah's winds caused palm trees to bend and sway. And much of Alabama has pine trees that can snap in high winds. 
 
 Firefighters were rescuing people from homes struck by trees near the Florida line in Lowndes County, Georgia. With wind gusts reaching 70 mph (112 kph), authorities imposed a daytime curfew for the 112,000 residents of Lowndes County, which includes Valdosta, county spokeswoman Paige Dukes said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Bynum reported from Savannah. Associated Press reporters Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Seanna Adcox in Columbia, South Carolina; and Kate Brumback and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this story. 
 
 ___ 
 
 HURRICANE NEWSLETTER — Get the best of the AP's all-formats reporting on Irma and Harvey in your inbox: http://apne.ws/ahYQGtb
– Irma moved into the Southeast on Monday as a tropical storm, not a hurricane, but it was still deadly: Authorities say there were at least three storm-related deaths in Georgia and one in South Carolina, along with flooding in cities including Jacksonville, Fla., and Charleston, SC. Police in Georgia say the storm's victims include a man killed when a tree fell in his house, a man blown from his roof, and a woman who died when a tree fell on a vehicle, the AP reports. In South Carolina, a falling tree limb killed a man. Irma has now weakened from a tropical storm to a tropical depression which is forecast to drop 5 inches to 8 inches of rain over South Carolina, northern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi in the coming days. The latest: Irma, which put Atlanta under a tropical storm warning for the first time, gave Georgia a hammering that caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights and left at least 1.3 million people without power early Tuesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott advised patience for evacuees anxious to return home, CNN reports. "Don't think just because this thing passed, you can run home. We've got downed power lines all across the state," he said Monday. "We've got roads that are impassible still across the state. We've got debris all over the state." The hard-hit Florida Keys will partially reopen on Tuesday to allow residents to assess damage, Reuters reports. Navy ships including the USS Abraham Lincoln have been sent to distribute food and evacuate some of the 10,000 residents who rode out the storm. Authorities say they aren't sure how many people were killed by the hurricane. The damage in most of Florida was not as catastrophic as feared, but Irma left an estimated 12 million people, or two-thirds of the state's population, without power, the Washington Post reports. Authorities warn that some customers could be without power for weeks if parts of the system need to be rebuilt. Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports will reopen Tuesday with limited service, the Miami Herald reports. Public schools in Miami, however, are closed until further notice, and Miami-Dade County is under a mandatory 7pm to 7am curfew. In Orlando, the storm claimed another victim Monday when a 51-year-old man was electrocuted by a downed power line in a park, the Orlando Sentinel reports. (Florida residents got their first look at the damage Monday.)