The man was driving through Munroe County when he lost control of his vehicle in the raging winds.
Two other people died in a car crash in Hardee County, which is about 60 miles inland from Sarasota.Irma had already killed 25 people in the Caribbean before the latest fatalities.
Millions of people huddled in shelters or in battened-down homes in Florida on Sunday morning as Irma, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, prepared to make landfall.
The National Hurricane Center forecast potentially deadly storm surges - water driven ashore by the winds - of up to 15ft.
As the northern edge of the storm reached the Florida Keys archipelago off the tip of southern Florida, lashing rains and winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people on the mainland.
"Pray for us," Florida Governor Rick Scott said as his state braced for the massive storm.In a warning to those attempting to ride the storm out, the Florida Keys Weather Forecast Office said: “Everyone in the Florida Keys:
“DON’T GOT OUTSIDE, SHELTER IN PLACE, HUNKER DOWN.
“Get to an interior room, away from windows, put your shoes on now!”
“Use whatever you have to try and protect yourself from flying debris: pillows, blankets, helmets, mattresses etc.Irma, which prompted one of the largest evacuations in US history, was a Category 4 hurricane as it made landfall.The worst is yet to come. The intense winds associated with the eyeball are expected to arrive around 7am EDT in the Lower Keys.”
Donald Trump warned: “This is a storm of enormous destructive power, and I ask everyone in the storm’s path to heed all instructions from government officials.
“The US Coast Guard, FEMA and all Federal and State brave people are ready. Here comes Irma. God bless everyone.’
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