Irma’s rampage leaves islands reeling

Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm with winds of up to 175 mph, continued to tear through the Caribbean on Thursday, leaving devastation in its wake and prompting evacuation orders across the region.

The death toll was at least seven Thursday afternoon, and authorities warned the number could rise as communications improved.

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe of France said four people were confifirmed dead on the Caribbean island of St. Martin, lowering a previous toll of eight deaths given by local rescue offifficials.

A St. Martin offifficial said Wednesday night that “95 percent of the island is destroyed.”

‘Our prayers were answered’

In Puerto Rico, about 70 percent of households were without power in the wake of the storm, which otherwise left the island largely unscathed, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Thursday.

Roughly 40 percent of the territory’s hospitals were functioning, he said, and were accepting transfers of about 40 patients from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The power outages left about 17 percent of the territory without running water.

“We would like to start out thanking the Almighty,” Rosselló said of the relatively small impact the storm had on Puerto Rico, with fallen trees and electrical poles making up the bulk of the damage on the main island. “Our prayers were answered.”

Total rainfall on the island ranged from 2 to 8 inches, the governor said, but southern regions were still at risk of flflooding because the rain there had not stopped.

Turks and Caicos: Shutdown

A national shutdown was declared on the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday afternoon, halting emergency services as the storm passed.

“A l l r e s i d e n t s a n d t o u r i s t s a r e instructed to stay indoors, as responders will not be able to provide relief services during this time until further notice,” said Virginia Clerveaux, director of the Disaster Management Department.

The few supermarkets in the city of Providenciales were crammed with residents stocking up on food, and there were long lines at gas stations.

Scores of people were already in emergency shelters that had opened Wednesday evening.

Haiti closes institutions

The Haitian government called for all institutions, public and private, including banks and stores, to be shut down from noon Thursday until further notice.

President Jovenel Moise said in a televised speech that his Cabinet had spent a week preparing for the hurricane, but he also outlined the challenges ahead, noting that 77 percent of the country is mountainous, much of it inaccessible by road.