Menacing Hurricane Irma powers forward

EVEN AS it watches closely, Jamaica is assessing the level of assistance it can offer to islands across the Caribbean region that have been devastated by Hurricane Irma, now a powerful Category Five storm.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness made contact with heads of government across the Caribbean whose countries have been affected.

“This is a period of assessment and planning to ascertain what Jamaica can do to assist our Caribbean brothers and sisters who have been significantly impacted by the most powerful hurricane to have entered the Atlantic Ocean,” Holness said in a statement.

GOV’T ASSISTANCE FOR J’CANS

Jamaicans currently in these affected countries have also been assured of assistance from their homeland.

Holness was advised by executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson, that he has briefed CARICOM Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin Larocque and Chair, Dr Keith Mitchell, indicating that first responders are on standby, subject to requests from national offices in affected islands.

Irma formed in the Atlantic last week and rapidly grew into a major hurricane, posing a threat to nine of the 18 CDEMA participating states including: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos, and the Virgin Islands.

This satellite image provided by NASA shows the Category Five Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean.

Residents install hurricane shutters at a home in Key Largo, Florida, in preparation for Hurricane Irma.

Traffic is seen heading North along the Florida Turnpike near Homestead, Florida, as tourists in the Florida Keys leave town ahead of Hurricane Irma’s arrival.

People recover broken parts of the dock after the passing of Hurricane Irma, in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda yesterday.

Residents gather water and necessities in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irma in North Miami.

Fishermen remove their wooden boats from the sea as a precaution against Hurricane Irma, in the seaside slum of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.