NEW YORK - The city is sending help south with Irma on track to hit Florida this weekend as a category four hurricane.
The NYPD and FDNY deployed a relief task force on Thursday that will go wherever they are needed.
Hundreds of men and women from the same team, dubbed New York Task Force-1, were just in Texas to assist with Harvey relief efforts.
Warnings have been issued for the southern part of the state and the keys.
Forecasters are expecting severe conditions - the storm whipped through Turks and Caicos at category five level - with sustained winds above 150 miles per hour and heavy rain.
Florida Governor Rick Scott has ordered evacuations, while schools and colleges will be closed through Monday so they can be used as shelters.
Nearly 6,000 residents are already in shelters.
Highways are packed with drivers trying to go as far north as possible.
Georgia has also ordered evacuation for people on the Atlantic Coast, while South Carolina has declared a state of emergency.
Florida officials say the potential path of the storm puts both the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast at risk.
"Regardless of which coast you live on, be prepared to evacuate. Floridians on the west coast cannot be complacent. Just because models show moving close to the east coast, the west coast will have still have hurricane conditions," Gov. Scott said.
So far, Irma is responsible for at least 20 deaths.
The U.S. Consulate General says about 6,000 Americans are stranded in St. Martin.
Meanwhile, nearly every building on the small island of Barbuda has been damaged, and more than half of its 1,400 hundred residents are now homeless.