Hurricane Irma aims at Caribbean
SAN JUAN: Officials across the northeastern Caribbean cancelled flights, shuttered schools and urged people to hunker down indoors as Hurricane Irma barrelled toward the region as a powerful Category 4 storm expected to strengthen more before nearing land late last night.
States of emergency were declared in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and all of Florida while people on various Caribbean islands boarded up homes and rushed to find last-minute supplies, forming long lines outside supermarkets and gas stations.
Irma had maximum sustained winds of 220kph late on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was centered 660km east of the Leeward Islands and moving west at 20kph.
Authorities warned that the storm could dump up to 25cm of rain, cause landslides and dangerous flash floods and generate waves of up to 7 meters.
“This is not an opportunity to go outside and try to have fun with a hurricane,” US Virgin Islands Governor Kenneth Mapp warned. “It’s not time to get on a surfboard.”
The storm’s centre was expected to move near or over the northern Leeward Islands late last night and early today, the hurricane centre said.
Residents on the US East Coast were urged to monitor the storm’s progress in case it should turn northward toward Florida, Georgia or the Carolinas.
“This hurricane has the potential to be a major event for the east coast,” Evan Myers, chief operating officer of AccuWeather, said in a statement.
In the Caribbean, hurricane warnings were issued for Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Martin, Saba, St Eustatius, St Maarten and St Barts, Puerto Rico, and the US and British Virgin islands.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Guadeloupe and a tropical storm watch for Dominica.