Waves crash against the seafront boulevard El Malecon as Hurricane Irma turns toward the Florida Keys on Saturday, in Havana-Reuters

Hurricane Irma turned its fury toward the Florida Keys on Saturday after setting off one of the largest evacuations of Americans from a storm and completing a destructive march along Cuba?s northern coast.

Irma was expected to rip through Florida?s southern archipelago on Sunday morning as a Category 4 storm, the second-highest designation on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Wind gusts near hurricane force began to batter the Florida Keys late on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Irma, which killed at least 22 people in the Caribbean, was considered a life-threatening danger to Florida as well and could inflict a natural disaster causing billions of dollars in damage to the third-most-populous US state.

All pictures are from Reuters