Famous Miami Zoo Pink Flamingos Moved to Safety as ‘Irma’ Heads to Florida

Workers at the Miami Zoo moved their famous pink flamingos to a concrete bunker for safety as 5.6 million people evacuated from Florida in advance of Hurricane Irma.

Irma poses an ominous threat to the entire Florida peninsula despite being downgraded to category 3 late Saturday morning. The storm is expected to re-intensify once it moves away from Cuba and toward Florida later on Saturday.

The video below shows workers from the Miami Zoo carefully herding the iconic pink birds into a concrete building where they are expected to remain safely enclosed until Hurricane Irma passes.

These flamingos in a Miami zoo are being moved to concrete holding areas, until the giant Hurricane #Irma passes https://t.co/w3eR2uia4L pic.twitter.com/ngmFJTv2yO

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 9, 2017

The storm’s maximum sustained winds dropped to 125 mph as of the 11 a.m. AST update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm’s eye is located about 175 miles southeast of Key West, Florida, and is slowed its movement to nine mph. It is currently moving west on a heading of 280 degrees, but is expected to begin a northwesterly turn later on Saturday, officials stated.

Storm surge watches and hurricane watches have been extended northward on the Atlantic coast into Georgia and South Carolina.

“Irma is expected to remain a very dangerous hurricane for the next two days,” NHC officials stated.

Friday night, Florida Governor Rick Scott told residents in mandatory evacuation areas to “leave now,” Breitbart Texas reported. “Not tonight, not in an hour, now.”

Officials warned Hurricane Irma will bring life-threatening wind impacts to much of the state, regardless of where the exact path of the center tracks. There is also an imminent danger of storm surges of up to 15 feet as the hurricane approaches the Florida Keys and the mainland peninsula. Flooding may also occur as the storm is forecast to drop up to 25 inches of rain in some areas.

One official warned that staying behind to ride out the storm on the Floriday Keys is “almost like suicide.”

Follow complete coverage of Hurricane Irma on Breitbart News.