CUBA’S capital Havana and the US city of Miami were counting the cost yesterday after Hurricane Irma flooded both with seawater.

The deadly tropical storm, the strongest since records began, swept inland across the US state of Florida towards Georgia and beyond, weakening to a category-one storm, but still with winds of 85mph.

Irma made landfall in Florida on Sunday at Cudjoe Key, inundating much of central Miami with seawater swept out of the city’s bays and toppling two static construction cranes there and one in nearby Fort Lauderdale.