ABC News(MIAMI) — Hurricane Irma is currently “pummeling” Turks and Caicos with 175 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory.

The record Category 5 storm, which skirted north of the Dominican Republic early Thursday as the powerful Category 5 storm, has set its sights on south Florida after leaving a trail of death and destruction in the Caribbean. At least 13 people have been killed.

Irma, dubbed the most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade, had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph on Thursday afternoon as it moved further away from the northern coast of Puerto Rico and over the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The wind speeds had dropped slightly from the day before, by about 10 mph.

“Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful Category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days,” the National Hurricane Center said in its advisory.

As of 8 p.m. ET, Irma was about 55 miles west-southwest of Grand Turk Island, the capital of Turks and Caicos, moving at 16 mph as it raced toward the tiny tropical archipelago southeast of the Bahamas, where the storm is expected to hit Thursday night. Much of Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas could get 8 to 12 inches of rain, with up to 20 inches in isolated spots through Saturday. A storm surge could bring water levels up to 20 feet above ground in Turks and Caicos.

A storm surge could also reach 5 feet on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic where Irma swept by on its way to Turks and Caicos.

Millions of children in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are at risk, according to Save the Children organization.

“Deadly storms have a bias against children. Storms often leave a lasting impact on young minds. Relief efforts should prioritize children – their needs, their emotional well-being,” Unni Krishnan, director of Save the Children’s emergency health unit, said in a statement Thursday.

The National Hurricane Center projects Irma will be near the central Bahamas by Friday and then make landfall in south Florida, near Miami, on Sunday morning as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing high winds, abundant rainfall and potentially dangerous storm surge.

The latest track has the storm shifted slightly to the west, which puts the worse side of the storm over the east coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who declared a statewide emergency earlier this week, has warned that the “massive storm” could be more treacherous than Hurricane Andrew, which devastated the Sunshine State 25 years ago.

“I want everybody to understand the importance of this. This is bigger than Andrew,” Scott said Wednesday in an interview from Tallahassee with ABC News’ “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts. “This could be worse.”

At a press conference Thursday, Scott said Irma could bring “life threatening” damage to Florida and he urged residents on the state’s east and west coast to be prepared to evacuate and to heed warnings from local officials, saying a storm surge could bring water levels up to 10 feet above ground.

“This could impact any part of our state,” Scott told reporters. “We’ll be doing evacuations, but everybody’s got to listen.”

Scott said he expects additional evacuation orders will be given once the storm gets closer.

Mandatory evacuations have already been ordered for parts of several Florida counties, including Brevard County, Broward County, Indian River County, Lee County, Martin County, Monroe County, Miami-Dade County, Palm Beach County, St. John’s County. Most of the mandatory evacuation zones were issued for barrier islands, coastal areas and for those living in mobile homes.

As of Thursday afternoon, about 650,000 people had been asked to evacuate Miami-Dade County alone, the southeastern-most county on the U.S. mainland with more than 2.7 million residents.

An estimated 1.2 Floridians statewide have been asked to evacuate.

Meanwhile, Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the town and ordered a mandatory evacuation for the entire island, where President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located.

ABC News estimates a total of around 1 million Floridians have been asked to evacuate. Voluntary evacuations have also been issued for certain regions.

Hurricane and storm surge watches were in effect for portions of south Florida and the Florida Keys on Thursday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center.



Irma leaves 13 dead in the Caribbean

The islands of St. Martin and Barbuda were especially hard hit in the storm on Wednesday, and officials there are continuing to assess the damage.

Irma delivered massive destruction to St. Martin, and at least eight people were killed and 21 more injured on the small island, according to French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb.

Although the airport was not destroyed, it is also not functional and support will have to be delivered via helicopter, Collomb said. He noted that 100,000 military emergency rations will be sent to the population.

One person — a toddler — was killed in Barbuda. The toddler drowned as the child’s mother tried to move to safer ground on Wednesday, according to Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne.

Barbuda suffered near-total destruction, with 90 percent of its structures destroyed, according to the prime minister, who described Irma like a “bomb” that shot “missiles” of debris across the island.

“When you have an unprecedented storm like this that comes with such significant wind force, this is like having a bomb literally thrown on a city,” Browne told ABC News in a telephone interview Thursday. “It is really the sheer magnitude of the winds that destroyed these properties.”

Barbuda recorded the strongest winds of any island in the path of Irma, with 155 mph gusts measured Wednesday morning. The prime minister on Thursday called for voluntary evacuations of Barbuda’s 2,000 inhabitants to Antigua, which fared better than its sister island during Irma, as a second hurricane, Jose, is strengthening and appears to be taking aim at the Caribbean.

One person also died in Anguilla where Irma caused “moderate to severe damage” to “critical infrastructure,” including the hospital, airport, fire station, police station, government buildings, public utilities and roads, according to the Department of Disaster Management in the British territory.

The U.S. Virgin Islands experienced a peak wind gust of 131 mph on Buck Island north of St. Croix on Wednesday.

Although Puerto Rico largely avoided the worst of Irma, with the highest wind gust on the Caribbean island measured at 70 mph, at least three people died there as a result of the storm’s impact, according to the governor’s office. A 79-old woman died at the hospital after she fell while being transported to a shelter, another woman died of electrocution and a man died in the hospital after getting in a car accident while driving in poor weather conditions.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said at a press conference Thursday morning that 6,200 people had hunkered down at shelters while Irma dropped 2 to 8 inches of rain across the island and up to 12 inches of rain in some isolated spots. One million customers were without power and 17 percent of the U.S. territory doesn’t have access to safe water.

Officials began assessing the extent of the damage Thursday, Rossello said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday launched crews to conduct search and rescue flights in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to assist anyone potentially in distress after Irma, while also conducting overflight and surface port assessments.

“Our first priority is ensuring safety of lives and helping anyone in distress. Following that, reopening the ports is a top priority, but we have to make sure we also do it safely,” Capt. Eric King, commander of Sector San Juan and the incident commander, said in a statement. “Opening the port prematurely could create a situation for a greater risk or incident, which could ultimately result in an even longer port closure. We must ensure the port is clear of any obstructions and any significant damage to the port infrastructure from the storm that would prevent the flow of commercial commerce.</s>Hurricane Irma roared into the Caribbean with record force early Wednesday, its 185-mph winds shaking homes and flooding buildings on a chain of small islands along a path toward Puerto Rico, Cuba and Hispaniola and a possible direct hit on densely populated South Florida.

The strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever recorded passed almost directly over the island of Barbuda, causing widespread flooding and downing trees. France sent emergency food and water rations to the French islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, where Irma ripped off roofs and knocked out all electricity.

The regional authority for Guadeloupe and neighbouring islands said the fire station in Saint Barthelemy was flooded by more than 3 feet (1 metre) of water and no rescue vehicles could move. The government headquarters on Saint Martin was partially destroyed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties but the minister for French overseas territories, Annick Girardin, said "We have a lot to fear for a certain number of our compatriots who unfortunately didn't want to listen to the protection measures and go to more secure sites ... We're preparing for the worst."

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the twin-island nation appears to have weathered its brush with Hurricane Irma with no deaths, though he noted that the government had only done a preliminary assessment of Barbuda. There were widespread reports of property damage but he says the public and government had prepared well for the storm.

"We in Antigua have weathered the most powerful hurricane ever to storm its way through the Caribbean," the prime minister said. "And we have done so with stunning results."

Hurricane Irma had maximum winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) as of 11 a.m. Wednesday and was producing dangerous storm surge and heavy rain. The centre of the storm was about 65 miles (110 kilometres) east-southeast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and about 140 miles (225 kilometres) east of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was heading west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).

As the eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Barbuda around 2 a.m., phone lines went down under heavy rain and howling winds that sent debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters.

The storm ripped the roof off the island's police station, forcing officers to seek refuge in the fire station and at the community centre that served as an official shelter. The Category 5 storm also knocked out communication between islands.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Irma's winds would fluctuate but the storm would likely remain at Category 4 or 5 strength for the next day or two. The most dangerous winds, usually nearest to the eye, were forecast to pass near the northern Virgin Islands and near or just north of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump declared emergencies in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and authorities in the Bahamas said they would evacuate six southern islands.

Warm water is fuel for hurricanes and Irma was moving over water that was 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) warmer than normal. The 79 degree (26 Celsius) water that hurricanes need went about 250 feet (80 metres) deep, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private forecasting service Weather Underground.

Four other storms have had winds as strong in the overall Atlantic region, but they were in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, which usually have warmer waters. Hurricane Allen hit 190 mph in 1980, while 2005's Wilma, 1988's Gilbert and a 1935 great Florida Keys storm all had 185 mph winds.

The northern Leeward Islands were expected to see normal tide levels rise by as much as 11 feet (3.3 metres), while the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas could see surge of 20 feet (6 metres) and higher waves later in the week, forecasters said.

Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said his government was evacuating six islands in the south because authorities would not be able to help anyone caught in the "potentially catastrophic" wind, flooding and storm surge. People there would be flown to Nassau in what he called the largest storm evacuation in the country's history.

"The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life or serious physical harm," Minnis said.

The U.S. National Weather Service said Puerto Rico had not seen a hurricane of Irma's magnitude since Hurricane San Felipe in 1928, which killed a total of 2,748 people in Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Florida.

"The dangerousness of this event is like nothing we've ever seen," Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. "A lot of infrastructure won't be able to withstand this kind of force."

The eye of the storm was expected to rip westward on a path taking it a little north of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.

The northern parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti could see 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain, with as much as 20 inches (50 centimetres) in the southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

The storm seemed almost certain to hit the United States by early next week.

"You'd be hard pressed to find any model that doesn't have some impact on Florida." said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

In Florida, people stocked up on drinking water and other supplies.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott activated 100 members of the Florida National Guard to be deployed across the state, and 7,000 National Guard members were to report for duty Friday when the storm could be approaching the area. On Monday, Scott declared a state of emergency in all of Florida's 67 counties.

Officials in the Florida Keys geared up to get tourists and residents out of Irma's path, and the mayor of Miami-Dade County said people should be prepared to evacuate Miami Beach and most coastal areas.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the voluntary evacuations could begin as soon as Wednesday evening. He activated the emergency operation centre and urged residents to have three days' worth of food and water.

The Hurricane Center in Miami said hurricane-force winds extended 50 miles (85 kilometres) from Irma's centre and tropical storm-force winds extended 175 miles (280 kilometres).

Also Wednesday morning, a new tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico off Mexico's coast. Tropical Storm Katia had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) with some strengthening forecast over the next two days. But the hurricane centre said Katia was expected to stay offshore through Friday morning.

And another tropical storm farther east in the Atlantic was expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday night. Tropical Storm Jose's maximum sustained winds had increased to near 60 mph (95 kph). The storm was centred about 1,255 miles (2,020 kilometres) east of the Lesser Antilles and was moving west near 13 mph (20 kph).

Associated Press writers contributing to this report included Danica Coto in Puerto Rico; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Michael Weissenstein in Havana, Cuba; Ben Fox in Miami contributed to this report</s>The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history made its first landfall in the islands of the northeast Caribbean early Wednesday, churning along a path pointing to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend.

The eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Barbuda around 1:47 a.m., the National Weather Service said. Residents said over local radio that phone lines went down. Heavy rain and howling winds raked the neighboring island of Antigua, sending debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters.

Officials warned people to seek protection from Irma's "onslaught" in a statement that closed with: "May God protect us all."

In Barbuda, the storm ripped off the roof of the island's police station forcing officers to seek refuge in the nearby fire station and at the community center that served as an official shelter. The Category 5 storm also knocked out communication between islands. Midcie Francis of the National Office of Disaster Services confirmed there was damage to several homes, but said it was too early to do tally or assess the extent of the damage.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Fernandez, who has temporary oversight for Disaster Management told The Associated Press via text that the northern end of island was hit hard by the storm. He did not elaborate on the extent of damage.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Its forecast early Wednesday was for the winds to fluctuate slightly but for the storm to remain at Category 4 or 5 strength for the next day or two. The most dangerous winds, usually nearest to the eye, were forecast to pass near the northern Virgin Islands and near or just north of Puerto Rico through the day Wednesday.

"I hear it's a Cat 5 now and I'm terrified," Antigua resident Carol Joseph said Tuesday as she finished her last trip to the supermarket before seeking shelter. "I had to come back for more batteries because I don't know how long the current will be off."

On the 108-square-mile island, people who live in low-lying areas were staying with friends and relatives on higher ground or sleeping in churches, schools and community facilities built to withstand hurricanes. None of the shelters have yet been tested by Category 5 winds, however.

Many homes in Antigua and Barbuda are not built on concrete foundations or have poorly constructed wooden roofs that are susceptible to wind damage. Other islands in the path of the storm included the Virgin Islands and Anguilla, a small, low-lying territory of about 15,000 people.

President Donald Trump declared emergencies in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and authorities in the Bahamas said they would evacuate six southern islands.

Warm water is fuel for hurricanes and Irma is moving over water that is 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) warmer than normal. The 79 degree (26 Celsius) water that hurricanes need goes about 250 feet deep (80 meters), said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private forecasting service Weather Underground.

Four other storms have had winds as strong in the overall Atlantic region but they were in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, which are usually home to warmer waters that fuel cyclones. Hurricane Allen hit 190 mph in 1980, while 2005's Wilma, 1988's Gilbert and a 1935 great Florida Keys storm all had 185 mph winds.

The northern Leeward Islands were expected to see waves as high as 11 feet, while the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas could see towering 20-foot waves later in the week, forecasters said.

"This is not an opportunity to go outside and try to have fun with a hurricane," U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp warned. "It's not time to get on a surfboard."

Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said his government was evacuating the six islands in the south because authorities would not be able to help anyone caught in the "potentially catastrophic" wind, flooding and storm surge. People there would be flown to Nassau starting Wednesday in what he called the largest storm evacuation in the country's history.

"The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life or serious physical harm," Minnis said.

The National Weather Service said Puerto Rico had not seen a hurricane of Irma's magnitude since Hurricane San Felipe in 1928, which killed a total of 2,748 people in Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Florida.

"The dangerousness of this event is like nothing we've ever seen," Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. "A lot of infrastructure won't be able to withstand this kind of force."

The director of the island's power company has warned that storm damage could leave some areas without electricity for about a week and other, unspecified areas for four to six months. The utility's infrastructure has deteriorated greatly during a decade-long recession, and Puerto Ricans experienced an island-wide outage last year.

The eye of the storm was expected to roar westward on a path taking it north of more heavily populated Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba, but it could still cause life-threating storm surges, rains and mudslides.

The northern parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti could see 10 inches of rain, with as much as 20 inches in the southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

The storm seemed almost certain to hit the United States by early next week.

"You'd be hard pressed to find any model that doesn't have some impact on Florida." said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

In Florida, people stocked up on drinking water and other supplies.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott activated 100 members of the Florida National Guard to be deployed across the state, and 7,000 National Guard members were to report for duty Friday when the storm could be approaching the area. On Monday, Scott declared a state of emergency in all of Florida's 67 counties.

Officials in the Florida Keys geared up to get tourists and residents out of Irma's path, and the mayor of Miami-Dade county said people should be prepared to evacuate Miami Beach and most of the county's coastal areas.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the voluntary evacuations could begin as soon as Wednesday evening. He activated the emergency operation center and urged residents to have three days' worth of food and water.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said hurricane-force winds extended 50 miles (85 kilometers) from Irma's center and tropical storm-force winds extended 175 miles (280 kilometers).

Also Wednesday morning, a new tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico off Mexico's coast. Tropical Storm Katia had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) with some strengthening forecast over the next two days. But the hurricane center said Katia was expected to stay offshore through Friday morning.

Meanwhile, a third tropical storm farther east in the Atlantic was expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday night. Tropical Storm Jose's maximum sustained winds had increased to near 60 mph (95 kph). The storm was centered about 1,255 miles (2,020 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles and was moving west near 13 mph (20 kph).</s>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Irma blacked out much of Puerto Rico as the dangerous Category 5 storm raked the U.S. territory with heavy wind and rain while staying just out to sea, and it headed early Thursday toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

To the east, authorities struggled to get aid to small Caribbean islands devastated by the storm's record 185 mph winds earlier Wednesday, while people in Florida rushed to get ready for a possible direct hit on the Miami area.

Communications were difficult with areas hit by Irma, and information on damage trickled out.

Nearly every building on Barbuda was damaged when the hurricane's core crossed almost directly over the island early Wednesday and about 60 percent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told The Associated Press.

"It is just really a horrendous situation," Browne said after returning to Antigua from a plane trip to the neighboring island.

He said roads and telecommunications systems were wrecked and recovery would take months, if not years. A 2-year-old child was killed as a family tried to escape a damaged home during the storm, Browne told the AP.

On St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Laura Strickling spent 12 hours hunkered down with her husband and 1-year-old daughter in a boarded-up basement apartment with no power as the storm raged outside. They emerged to find the lush island in tatters. Many of their neighbors' homes were damaged and once-dense vegetation was largely gone.

"There are no leaves. It is crazy. One of the things we loved about St. Thomas is that it was so green. And it's gone," Strickling said. "It will take years for this community to get back on its feet."

Significant damage was also reported on St. Martin, an island split between French and Dutch control. Photos and video circulating on social media showed major damage to the airport in Philipsburg and the coastal village of Marigot heavily flooded. France sent emergency food and water there and to the French island of St. Bart's, where Irma ripped off roofs and knocked out electricity.

Dutch marines who flew to St. Martin and two other Dutch island reported extensive damage but no deaths or injuries.

By early Thursday, the center of the storm was about 140 miles northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and moving west-northwest near 16 mph.

More than half the island of Puerto Rico was without power, leaving 900,000 in the dark and nearly 50,000 without water, the U.S. territory's emergency management agency said in the midst of the storm. Fourteen hospitals were using generators after losing power, and trees and light poles were strewn across roads.

Puerto Rico's public power company warned before the storm hit that some areas could be left without power from four to six months because its staff has been reduced and its infrastructure weakened by the island's decade-long economic slump.

State maintenance worker Juan Tosado said he was without power for three months after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. "I expect the same from this storm. It's going to be bad," he said.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to remove debris and give other services that will largely be paid for by the U.S. government.

Pauline Jackson, a 59-year-old registered nurse from Florida visiting Puerto Rico, said she had tried to leave before the storm but all flights were sold out.

She has a reservation to fly out Friday and is worried about her home in Tampa. "When you're from Florida, you understand a Category 5 hurricane," she said.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as passes just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, nears the Turks & Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday. It will then likely head north toward Florida.

The storm is expected to hit Florida sometime Sunday, and Gov. Rick Scott said he planned to activate 7,000 National Guard soldiers by Friday. He warned that Irma is "bigger, faster and stronger" than Hurricane Andrew, which wiped out entire neighborhoods in south Florida 25 years ago.

Experts worried that Irma could rake the entire Florida east coast from Miami to Jacksonville and then head into Savannah, Georgia, and the Carolinas, striking highly populated and developed areas.

"This could easily be the most costly storm in U.S. history, which is saying a lot considering what just happened two weeks ago," said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.</s>A British territory has been "pummelled" overnight by Hurricane Irma as winds of up to 175mph left death and destruction in the Atlantic.

The Turks and Caicos Islands government declared a national shutdown as the category five storm continued to tear across the Caribbean, with life-threatening wind, rain and a storm surge expected into tomorrow.

Irma, which continues to be a "potentially catastrophic" hurricane, has killed at least 14 people according to reports, with islands across the region told to prepare for storm surges.

The hurricane's ruinous touch, which has already reduced the island of Barbuda to wreckage, will also be felt in nearby Haiti as the storm sweeps north west.

Meanwhile, the British Virgin Islands said they were confident of being able to rebuild after houses were reduced to foundations following the "devastating" storm.

Images posted on social media showed entire structures razed to the ground, with debris scattered across the streets.

Sharon Flax-Brutus, director of tourism for the group of more than 60 islands, said: "The destruction caused by Hurricane Irma in the British Virgin Islands has been devastating.

"The destination has lost entire structures and many homes are without roofs, or have been diminished to merely foundations."

She added communication between the islands has been difficult as mobile phone towers had come down - meaning it was tricky to gauge the full extent of the damage.

Irma was first classified as a tropical storm on August 30 and rapidly intensified over the following days, becoming a category four hurricane on September 4.

Then, winds reached a peak of 130mph, but soon became the strongest for more than a decade when sustained winds peaked at 185mph.

Saint Martin, which has already been victim to Irma, is now facing a new threat in the form of Jose, while the British territories of Anguilla and Montserrat are on alert for a tropical storm.

Thousands of British tourists believed to be holidaying in the Caribbean have been warned to follow evacuation orders while some have been advised to stay in their hotel rooms.

States of emergency have been declared in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Florida, where the storm is due to make landfall this weekend.

In Fort Lauderdale, 40-year-old Erik Petersen described the atmosphere as "pretty tense" - adding there was much more worry than last year, when the Sunshine State braced for Hurricane Matthew.

The dual American-British citizen told the Press Association: "People aren't just talking about this as a hurricane, they're taking about it as the hurricane.

"I've had a few people ask if I'm considering going somewhere else in Florida, but this thing's the size of Texas. Roads are clogged, hotels are full, gas is running low.

"I'd rather face this thing in a house in Fort Lauderdale than in a car in a traffic jam somewhere outside Orlando."

Mr Petersen, who lived in the UK for 11 years and most recently called Nottingham his home city, is riding out the storm with his 36-year-old wife Jo and their six-year-old daughter Anya.

He said he was expecting lots of damage and said power could be out for weeks.

"With no electricity or air conditioning, you get used to stinking. Some people have generators. Unfortunately, we don't," he said.

"Luckily we do have a gas oven, so we can cook without electricity.

"Anya largely sees this as a big camp-out or adventure, which I suppose is good.

"Jo hasn't been through a hurricane before, but she's been through hurricane prep, so she's in full-on Spirit of Dunkirk/Getting Stuff Done mode.

"My parents have lived here for many years and seen a lot of stuff. They're not panicking, but they're taking this all very seriously."

In response to the unfolding crisis, Theresa May announced that £32 million had been released to assist the relief effort.

Speaking after a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee on Thursday afternoon, the Prime Minister said: "We must not forget that there is a further storm on the way.

"But that won't stop us from providing the assistance that is needed, and doing everything we can to help."

The British military has dispatched a task group of experts into the affected areas of the Atlantic to provide support and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Mounts Bay vessel is transporting supplies.

Addressing concerns about the speed of Britain's response, Mrs May said both humanitarian workers and RFA Mounts Bay had been "prepositioned".

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon added the military vessel is "already at work" clearing roads and helping to restore power.</s>MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A very powerful Hurricane Irma continues to move to the west-northwest off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.

At 5 a.m., the center of the Category 5 hurricane was about 95 miles north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Irma was moving at 17 mph with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph with higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 50 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles.

On the forecast track, the center should pass north of the coast of Hispaniola later today, be near the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas by this evening, and then be near the Central Bahamas by Friday.

It could possibly make landfall in South Florida on Sunday.

Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for…

 * Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the northern border with Haiti

 * Haiti from the northern border with the Dominican Republic to Le Mole St. Nicholas

 * Southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands

 * Central Bahamas

 * Northwestern Bahamas

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for…

 * Cuba from Matanzas province eastward to Guantanamo province

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for…

 * Dominican Republic from south of Cabo Engano westward to the southern border with Haiti

 * Haiti from south of Le Mole St. Nicholas to Port-Au-Prince

 * Cuba provinces of Guantanamo, Holguin, and Las Tunas

The combination of a life-threatening storm surge and large breaking waves will raise water levels above normal tides by the following amounts within the hurricane warning area near and to the north of the center of Irma. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.

Turks and Caicos Islands…15 to 20 ft

 Southeastern and central Bahamas…15 to 20 ft

 Northern coast of the Dominican Republic…3 to 5 ft

 Northern coast of Haiti and the Gulf of Gonave…1 to 3 ft

 Northern coast of Cuba in the warning area…5 to 10 ft

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast in areas of onshore winds, where the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances.

Hurricane conditions are expected to begin within the hurricane warning area in the Dominican Republic and Haiti today, with tropical storm conditions beginning in the next few hours.

Hurricane conditions are expected to begin in the warning area in the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands later today with tropical storm conditions expected within the next several hours. These conditions will spread into the Central Bahamas by Thursday night or early Friday.

Hurricane and tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area in Cuba by Friday. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin within the warning area in Cuba Thursday night.

Huricane conditions are expected in the northwestern Bahamas Friday night and Saturday.

Irma is expected to produce the following rain accumulations through Saturday:

Northeast Puerto Rico and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands…An additional 2 to 4 inches.

 Southeast Bahamas, Central Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos…8 to 12 inches, isolated 20 inches.

 Northern Dominican Republic and northern Haiti…4 to 10 inches, isolated 15 inches.

 Eastern and Central Cuba…4 to 10 inches, isolated 15 inches.

 Southern Haiti…1 to 4 inches.

In all areas this rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

Swells generated by Irma are affecting the northern Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the southeastern Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, and they should start affecting portions of the southeast coast of the United States later today and tonight. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
• Click here for ways to prepare yourself for an impending storm from our Hurricane Preps page
• Click here for latest news surrounding hurricanes and the National Hurricane Center
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• Click here to download the CBS4 2017 Hurricane Guide (English)</s>HAVANA (Reuters) - Hurricane Irma menaced Cuba and the Bahamas on Friday as it drove toward Florida after lashing the Caribbean with devastatingly high winds, killing 19 people and leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake.

As Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, bore down on Florida, Governor Rick Scott issued a stark warning to residents to get out if they were in evacuation zones.

“We are running out of time. If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now. This is a catastrophic storm like our state has never seen,” Scott told reporters, adding the storm’s effects would be felt from coast to coast.

Irma was about 270 miles east of Caibarien on Cuba’s central-north coast, and 405 miles southeast of Miami, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory at 11 a.m EDT on Friday. Hurricane conditions were spreading westward over parts of Cuba and the central Bahamas.

Irma pummeled the Turks and Caicos Islands after saturating the northern edges of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The “extremely dangerous” storm was downgraded from a Category 5, the top of the scale of hurricane intensity, to a Category 4 early Friday but it was still carrying winds as strong as 150 miles per hour, the NHC said.

Irma was forecast to bring dangerous storm surges of up to 20 feet to the southeastern and central Bahamas, and up to 10 feet on parts of Cuba’s northern coast. The storm was predicted to slam southern Florida on Sunday.

Cuba, where the Communist government has traditionally made rigorous preparations when the island is threatened by storms, was at a near standstill as Irma began to drive up the northern coast from east to west offshore.

Schools and most businesses were closed, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated, and train, bus and domestic air services around the island were canceled. Airports were closing to international flights as conditions warranted.

Irma was forecast to move closer to land as it approached the center of Cuba later in the day and on Saturday, when it could seriously damage resorts on vulnerable keys. Tourists, and even the dolphins that entertain them, were evacuated. The storm was then predicted to veer north, sparing western Cuba and Havana.

In the Cuban fishing town of Caibarien, residents secured their roofs and moved belongings from low-lying coastal areas to houses higher up inland as the skies clouded over. Most said they were worried but well prepared.

Esteban Reyes, 65, was pushing his bicycle taxi laden with a mattress, iron and DVD player. “We are used to storms but I’m still a bit scared. But the government has taught us to be prepared and help one another,” he said.

In several TV interviews early Friday, Florida’s governor pleaded with residents to leave areas designated for evacuation, although he acknowledged frustration with buying gas and handling bumper-to-bumper traffic on the roads.

“We’re doing everything we can to get the fuel out,” to gas stations, including police escorts, Scott told ABC.

Nearly one-third of all gas stations in Florida’s metropolitan areas were out of gasoline, according to Gasbuddy.com, a retail fuel price tracking service.

“Don’t be complacent. We’re not sure exactly where this is going to go,” he told CBS, adding that he expected to see 5-10 feet of storm surge.

Downtown Miami, under an evacuation order, appeared to have emptied out on Friday morning, with little traffic on the streets and public parking lots empty.

In Palm Beach, the waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate owned by President Donald Trump was ordered evacuated, media reported. Trump also owns property on the French side of St. Martin, a French-Dutch island devastated by the storm.

A mandatory evacuation on Georgia’s Atlantic coast was due to begin on Saturday, Governor Nathan Deal said.

The storm was expected to “devastate” part of the United States and officials were preparing a massive response, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said.

The storm comes two weeks after Hurricane Harvey struck Texas, claiming around 60 lives and causing property damage estimated at as much as $180 billion in Texas and Louisiana.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Friday as investors assessed the financial impact of Harvey and tracked Irma. The three major Wall Street indexes were on track to end the week lower, with many economists forecasting that third-quarter gross domestic product will take a hit due to the hurricanes.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) said the state was far more prepared now than when it was hit by devastating Hurricane Andrew in 1992. He also noted that local, state and federal authorities appeared more coordinated after learning the lessons of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

“I think Florida is prepared, but when you get 155 plus mile per hour winds nobody is going to be prepared for that kind of destruction,” Nelson told MSNBC.

As it roared in from the east, Irma ravaged a series of small islands in the northeast Caribbean, including Barbuda, the French-Dutch island of St. Martin and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, flattening homes and hospitals and ripping down trees.

A Reuters witness described the roof and walls of a solidly built house shaking hard as the storm rocked the island of Providenciales.

Even as they came to grips with the massive destruction, residents of the islands hit hardest by Irma faced the threat of another major storm: Hurricane Jose. Expected to reach the northeastern Caribbean on Saturday, Jose is an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 150 mph, the NHC said on Friday.

The death toll from Irma has risen as emergency services got access to remote areas.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Friday that nine people were killed, at least seven were missing, and 112 others were injured after the hurricane crashed into St. Barthelemy and St. Martin.

France said it was deploying hundreds more police and other emergency personnel to the islands as it ramped up its response to the devastation in its overseas territories.

Four people died in the U.S. Virgin islands, a government spokesman said, and a major hospital was badly damaged by the wind. A U.S. amphibious assault ship arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thursday and sent helicopters for medical evacuations from the destroyed hospital.

The eastern Caribbean island of Barbuda was reduced to “rubble,” and one person died, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said. In the British overseas territory of Anguilla, another person was killed and the hospital and airport were damaged, emergency service officials said.

Three people were killed in Puerto Rico and around two-thirds of the population had lost electricity, Governor Ricardo Rossello said after Irma grazed the U.S. territory’s northern coast. A surfer was also reported killed in Barbados.

The storm passed just to the north of the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, damaging roofs and causing flooding and power outages as it approached the impoverished Haitian side. A man was reported missing after trying to cross a river in Haiti’s Central Plateau region.</s>- Irma is a beast. After raking the Northern Leeward Islands it slams the British and U.S. Virgin Islands Wednesday afternoon. According to the NHC an unofficial gust of 111 mph was reported on Culebra.

The massive category 5 hurricane passes near Puerto Rico early Wednesday evening. The core of hurricane force winds will just skirt the northern part of the island. As of 5 p.m., it maintained Category 5 strength with 185 mph winds as it moves west-northwest at 15 mph. What’s incredible is Irma maintains 185 mph winds for 24 hours+.

With the exception of Haiyan in the western Pacific, it is the only Atlantic and Pacific tropical cyclone to stay this strong for this long (according to Eric Blake of NOAA and Dr. Klotzback of Colorado State University). Wave heights build to 30-40 feet just north of the Virgin Islands Wednesday evening.

Storm surge batters the eastern Caribbean with a peak surge of 7-11 feet over the Virgin Islands. Impressive waves plow through the Turks and Caicos and the Southeast Bahamas by Friday. A destructive surge of 15-20 feet is possible.

The only thing to really weaken Irma or disrupt it some would be interaction with Hispaniola or Cuba. Even then, the storm would likely still be a dangerous high-end major hurricane before possible catastrophic impacts in south and east Florida Sunday and Monday. While the center line from the NHC a little further east at 5 p.m., the track error 4 and 5 days out remains the same.

4 and 5 day error is 175 miles to 225 miles respectively. Beyond Florida, it is increasingly likely that coastal Georgia and South Carolina will see impacts too. Impacts are pending on when Irma makes the turn north. At this point, it will be on late Saturday. A slower turn north would mean more impacts a bit further west across the Sunshine State.

The models gained some consistency Wednesday afternoon. The cluster of models near southeast and east Florida tracks the storm northward towards southeast Georgia and South Carolina Monday afternoon.

Both the GFS and especially the Euro bring the core of major hurricane force winds near or just over southeast Florida Sunday. A wobble west or east, would make all the difference in widespread destruction or tropical storm winds. Keep in mind as large is Irma is, the structure may not be as symmetrical this weekend. As of 5 PM hurricane force winds extend out 50 miles from the center.

The strongest winds are in the surrounding eye wall. Tropical storm force winds extend out up to 185 miles from the center.

Ridiculous wave heights in the Caribbean move on to Florida by late this weekend. The worst surge, is highly dependent on the track. Here is an early wave height estimate in southeast Florida by Sunday afternoon from Wave Watch III model. Those shades of pink are 25-40 foot waves. Please heed any evacuations and warnings. Stay informed as we gain more model confidence in the days ahead.

Also of note, both Jose in the east central Atlantic and Katia in the southern Gulf become a hurricane at 5 PM. Jose could clip the Leeward Islands, but should generally stay over the open Atlantic over the next 5-6 days+. Katia will run into mountainous east Mexico this weekend. It will stay well south of Texas.</s>ST. JOHN’S, Antigua — Hurricane Irma roared into the Caribbean with record force early Wednesday, its 185-mph winds shaking homes and flooding buildings on a chain of small islands along a path toward Puerto Rico, Cuba and Hispaniola and a possible direct hit on densely populated South Florida.

The strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever recorded passed almost directly over the island of Barbuda, causing widespread flooding and downing trees. France sent emergency food and water rations to the French islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, where Irma ripped off roofs and knocked out all electricity.

The regional authority for Guadeloupe and neighboring islands said the fire station in Saint Barthelemy was flooded by more than 3 feet (1 meter) of water and no rescue vehicles could move. The government headquarters on Saint Martin was partially destroyed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties but the minister for French overseas territories, Annick Girardin, said “We have a lot to fear for a certain number of our compatriots who unfortunately didn’t want to listen to the protection measures and go to more secure sites … We’re preparing for the worst.”

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the twin-island nation appears to have weathered its brush with Hurricane Irma with no deaths, though he noted that the government had only done a preliminary assessment of Barbuda. There were widespread reports of property damage but he says the public and government had prepared well for the storm.

“We in Antigua have weathered the most powerful hurricane ever to storm its way through the Caribbean,” the prime minister said. “And we have done so with stunning results.”

Hurricane Irma had maximum winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) as of 11 a.m. Wednesday and was producing dangerous storm surge and heavy rain. The center of the storm was about 65 miles (110 kilometers) east-southeast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and about 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was heading west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).

As the eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Barbuda around 2 a.m., phone lines went down under heavy rain and howling winds that sent debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters.

The storm ripped the roof off the island’s police station, forcing officers to seek refuge in the fire station and at the community center that served as an official shelter. The Category 5 storm also knocked out communication between islands.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Irma’s winds would fluctuate but the storm would likely remain at Category 4 or 5 strength for the next day or two. The most dangerous winds, usually nearest to the eye, were forecast to pass near the northern Virgin Islands and near or just north of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump declared emergencies in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and authorities in the Bahamas said they would evacuate six southern islands.

Warm water is fuel for hurricanes and Irma was moving over water that was 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) warmer than normal. The 79 degree (26 Celsius) water that hurricanes need went about 250 feet (80 meters) deep, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private forecasting service Weather Underground.

Four other storms have had winds as strong in the overall Atlantic region, but they were in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, which usually have warmer waters. Hurricane Allen hit 190 mph in 1980, while 2005’s Wilma, 1988’s Gilbert and a 1935 great Florida Keys storm all had 185 mph winds.

The northern Leeward Islands were expected to see normal tide levels rise by as much as 11 feet (3.3 meters), while the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas could see surge of 20 feet (6 meters) and higher waves later in the week, forecasters said.

Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said his government was evacuating six islands in the south because authorities would not be able to help anyone caught in the “potentially catastrophic” wind, flooding and storm surge. People there would be flown to Nassau in what he called the largest storm evacuation in the country’s history.

“The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life or serious physical harm,” Minnis said.

The U.S. National Weather Service said Puerto Rico had not seen a hurricane of Irma’s magnitude since Hurricane San Felipe in 1928, which killed a total of 2,748 people in Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Florida.

“The dangerousness of this event is like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. “A lot of infrastructure won’t be able to withstand this kind of force.”

The eye of the storm was expected to rip westward on a path taking it a little north of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.

The northern parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti could see 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain, with as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) in the southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

The storm seemed almost certain to hit the United States by early next week.

“You’d be hard pressed to find any model that doesn’t have some impact on Florida.” said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

In Florida, people stocked up on drinking water and other supplies.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott activated 100 members of the Florida National Guard to be deployed across the state, and 7,000 National Guard members were to report for duty Friday when the storm could be approaching the area. On Monday, Scott declared a state of emergency in all of Florida’s 67 counties.

Officials in the Florida Keys geared up to get tourists and residents out of Irma’s path, and the mayor of Miami-Dade County said people should be prepared to evacuate Miami Beach and most coastal areas.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the voluntary evacuations could begin as soon as Wednesday evening. He activated the emergency operation center and urged residents to have three days’ worth of food and water.

The Hurricane Center in Miami said hurricane-force winds extended 50 miles (85 kilometers) from Irma’s center and tropical storm-force winds extended 175 miles (280 kilometers).

Also Wednesday morning, a new tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico off Mexico’s coast. Tropical Storm Katia had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) with some strengthening forecast over the next two days. But the hurricane center said Katia was expected to stay offshore through Friday morning.

And another tropical storm farther east in the Atlantic was expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday night. Tropical Storm Jose’s maximum sustained winds had increased to near 60 mph (95 kph). The storm was centered about 1,255 miles (2,020 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles and was moving west near 13 mph (20 kph).</s>Residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday hunkered down for Hurricane Irma, which has smashed through a string of Caribbean islands as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, killing at least 14 people en route to Florida. With winds of around 185 miles per hour (290 km per hour), the storm the size of France has ravaged small islands in the northeast Caribbean in recent days, including Barbuda, Saint Martin and the British and US Virgin Islands, ripping down trees and flattening homes and hospitals.

Winds dipped on Thursday to 175 mph as the Irma soaked the northern coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and brought hurricane-force wind to the Turks and Caicos Islands. It remained an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm, the highest designation by the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Irma was about 40 miles (65 km) south of Turks and Caicos and is expected to reach the Bahamas later Thursday, before moving to Cuba and plowing into southern Florida as a very powerful Category 4 on Sunday, with storm surges and flooding due to begin within the next 48 hours.

Across the Caribbean authorities rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of residents and tourists in the path of the storm, while on islands in its wake, shocked locals tried to comprehend the extent of the devastation while simultaneously preparing for another major hurricane, Jose, currently a Category 3 and due to hit the northeastern Caribbean on Saturday. It was the first time the Turks and Caicos islands had experienced a Category 5 storm, said Virginia Clerveaux, director of Disaster Management and Emergencies.

“We are expecting inundation from both rainfall as well as storm surge. And we may not be able to come rescue them in a timely manner,” she said in comments broadcast on Facebook. The few tourists who remained on the Turks and Caicos islands were in hotels, as were some locals.

“Right now I’m at the hotel with my family. There are a lot of people in the hotel. It’s boarded up,” said island resident Sofia Simmons, speaking from the Royal West Indies Hotel on Providenciales island. “Most of our shelters are packed to capacity. We had to open more shelters.”

Florida emergency management officials began evacuations, ordering tourists to leave the Keys. Gas shortages in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area worsened on Thursday, with sales up to five times the norm. In Miami, hundreds of people lined up for bottled water and cars looped around city blocks to get gas in panicked preparations for Irma.

“To the people of Florida, we just want you to protect yourselves, be very very vigilant and careful,” said US President Donald Trump, who owns the waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida as well as a property on the French side of Saint Martin, an island devastated by the storm. A mandatory evacuation on Georgia’s Atlantic coast was due to begin on Saturday, Governor Nathan Deal said.

In the US Virgin islands, four people died, a government spokesman said, and a major hospital was badly damaged by the wind. A US amphibious assault ship arrived in the US Virgin Islands on Thursday and sent helicopters for medical evacuations from the destroyed hospital.

Barbuda, where one person died, was reduced “to rubble”, according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne. In the British overseas territory of Anguilla another person was killed, while the hospital and airport, power and phone services were damaged, emergency service officials said.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said four bodies were recovered on the tiny French-Dutch island of Saint Martin, which was hit hard. “It is an enormous disaster. Ninety-five percent of the island is destroyed. I am in shock,” Daniel Gibbs, chairman of a local council on Saint Martin, told Radio Caribbean International.

Television footage from the island showed a damaged marina with boats tossed into piles, submerged streets and flooded homes. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to coordinate an emergency humanitarian response.

Three people were killed in Puerto Rico and around two-thirds of the population lost their electricity, Governor Ricardo Rossello said after the storm rolled by the US territory’s northern coast. A surfer was also reported killed in Barbados.

The storm passed just to the north of the Hispaniola island shared by Dominican Republic and Haiti, causing some damage to roofs, flooding and power outages as it approached the impoverished Haitian side of the island, which is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and rain, although it did not make landfall.

While the strongest winds should not hit Haiti, authorities and aid agencies were bracing for heavy rainfall from the storm just 90 miles (145 km) north of the coast, which could cause deadly landslides and flooding. Cuba started evacuating some of the 51,000 tourists visiting the island, particularly 36,000 people at resorts on the picturesque northern coast. That included all Canadian tourists, who Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero estimated made up 60 percent of foreign visitors in the country’s keys.

In Caibarien, a town in the hurricane’s predicted path, residents secured roofs with sandbags. Irma was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years, according to the NHC. The storm activity comes after Harvey claimed about 60 lives and caused property damage estimated to be as much as $180 billion in Texas and Louisiana. ($1 = 0.7640 pounds)

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Irma has killed at least 14 people. The storm, still at Category 5 strength with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h), is moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 km/h). It has reached the dual-country island of Hispaniola and is forecast to pass over the Turks and Caicos Islands as it heads towards The Bahamas and Cuba. The eye did not directly hit Puerto Rico; still casualties are reported and around two-thirds of its 3.4 million population are without electricity.