Storm damage
Florida prepares for catastrophe as huge storm could remain Category 5 when it hits the US mainland
Pleasure craft lie crammed against the shore at Paraquita Bay in the British Virgin Islands after the eye of Hurricane Irma passed over the region. Report and pictures of the Atlantic basin’s second most powerful storm yet recorded,
Hurricane Irma cut a path of devastation across the northern Caribbean, leaving at least 10 dead and thousands homeless after destroying buildings and uprooting trees on a track that could lead to a catastrophic strike on Florida.
It is one of the most potent Atlantic Ocean hurricanes yet, weakening only slightly yesterday and remaining a powerful Category 5 storm with winds of 285kph, according to the US national hurricane centre.
The storm appeared increasingly likely to hit heavily populated South Florida on Sunday, prompting the governor to declare an emergency and officials to impose mandatory evacuation orders for parts of the Miami metro area and the Florida Keys.
Forecasters said it could affect the entire Atlantic coast of Florida and cause damage in Georgia and South Carolina.
“This could easily be the most costly storm in US history, which is saying a lot considering what happened two weeks ago,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, referring to Hurricane Harvey.
France said eight people had died and 23 been injured in the country’s Caribbean island territories, but the toll on Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy could be higher because rescue teams had yet to finish their inspections.
In the UK, the government said Irma inflicted “severe and in places critical” damage to the overseas territory of Anguilla. The Caribbean island took the full force of the hurricane and the British Virgin Islands had also suffered “severe damage”, foreign office minister Alan Duncan said.
To the east, authorities struggled to get aid to small Caribbean islands devastated by the storm’s record winds. Communications were difficult in 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 on Wednesday and about 60 per cent of its estimated 1,400 residents were left homeless, said Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister, Gaston Browne.
He said roads and telecommunications systems were wrecked and recovery would take months, if not years.
One death was reported in the nearby island of Anguilla, where officials reported extensive damage to the airport, hospitals, shelters and schools and said 90 per cent of roads were impassible.
The Caribbean disaster emergency management agency reported major damage to houses and commercial buildings in the British Virgin Islands.
On St Thomas in the nearby US Virgin Islands, Laura Strickling spent 12 hours sheltering with her husband and one-yearold daughter in a boarded-up basement with no power as the storm raged outside. They emerged to find the lush island in tatters 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,” Ms 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.
Irma blacked out more than half the island of Puerto Rico, leaving 900,000 in the dark and raking the US territory with heavy wind and rain. Nearly 50,000 were without water.
The US hurricane centre predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as it passed just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, neared the Turks and Caicos and parts of the Bahamas and skirted Cuba before probably heading north towards Florida.
Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, mobilised sections of the national guard and asked the governors of Alabama and Georgia to waive transport regulations so that fuel tankers could reach Florida quickly to ease shortages.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Katia hovered in the southern Gulf of Mexico, threatening to hit the vulnerable Mexican coast as a Category 2 or 3 hurricane, possibly late tonight or early tomorrow. It had winds of 130kph and was about 335 kilometres east of Tampico, Mexico.
A third hurricane, Jose, was growing far out in the Atlantic. It was no immediate threat to land, although the forecast track showed it could affect the Irma-blasted Leeward Islands over the weekend. The hurricane had winds of about 150kph.