Search and rescue operations continue in Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

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Authorities worked to restore communication with the island residents and began work Monday on reopening the single highway that connects the islands to the mainland.

Irma was downgraded to a tropical storm Monday evening. By Tuesday, it was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. At least 17 people have died in the contiguous U.S.

Power is beginning to be restored in Florida and Georgia.

>>Minute-by-minute updates to this post have ceased. For the latest Hurricane Irma news: 

JACKSONVILLE - ActionNewsJax

ORLANDO-WFTV

PALM BEACH - Palm Beach Post

ATLANTA - WSBTV 

ATLANTA - AJC

MIAMI, FL - SEPTEMBER 10:  A truck is seen on its side after being blown over as Hurricane Irma passed through on September 10, 2017 in Miami, Florida. Hurricane Irma, which first made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, has weakened to a Category 2 as it moves up the coast.

Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Cuthbert is the county seat of Randolph County, one of 94 Georgia counties that registered more deaths than births in 2024. The county's hospital closed in 2020, leaving longtime state Rep. Gerald Greene to drivce himself 46 miles to Albany while suffering from a kidney stone recently. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC