Hurricane Irma churns through Caribbean, possibly en route to Florida

Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic storm in recorded history, churned across northern Caribbean islands on Wednesday with a potentially catastrophic mix of fierce winds, surf and rain, en route to a possible Florida landfall at the weekend.

Irma is expected to become the second powerful storm to thrash the US mainland in as many weeks but its precise trajectory remained uncertain. Hurricane Harvey killed more than 60 people and caused damaged estimated as high as $180 billion when it hit Texas late last month.

The eye of Irma, a Category 5 storm packing winds of 295 kph (185 miles per hour)  moved away from the island of Barbuda and toward the island of St Martin, east of Puerto Rico, early on Wednesday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reported. It could hit Florida on Saturday.

It said winds would likely fluctuate slightly, but the storm would 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.

TRT World's Kerry Alexandra reports on how those in Irma's path are scrambling to stay safe.

Barbuda

The eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Barbuda around 1:47 am, the US National Weather Service said.

Residents said over local radio that phone lines went down.  

The storm ripped the roof off the island's police station forcing officers to seek refuge in the nearby fire station and at the community centre 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 assess the extent of damage.

Antigua

"We are hunkered down and it is very windy ... the wind is a major threat," said Garfield Burford, the director of news at ABS TV and Radio on the island of Antigua, south of Barbuda. "So far, some roofs have been blown off."

Most people who were on Antigua and Barbuda were without power and about 1,000 people were spending the night in shelters in Antigua, according to Burford.

"It's very scary [...] most of the islands are dark so it's a very, very frightening," he said.

The eye of the hurricane went over Barbuda, which has a population of about 1,600 people, according to ABS radio.

"All hearts and all prayers and all minds go out to the Barbudans at this time because they experienced the full brunt," a radio host said on the station early on Wednesday.

"I hear it's a Cat 5 now and I'm terrified," 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." 

St Martin

Hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean islands Saint Martin on Wednesday, the French weather office said, adding that it had caused major flooding in low-lying areas.

The French government had previously sounded the alarm over thousands of people who had refused to seek shelter on French-run Saint Barthelemy, also known as St Barts, and Saint Martin, an island divided between France and the Netherlands.

Public relations professional Alex Woolfall said on Twitter he was hiding underneath a concrete stairwell as the storm neared Saint Martin.

"Still thunderous sonic boom noises outside and boiling in stairwell. Can feel scream of things being hurled against building," he said. "Okay I am now pretty terrified so can every non-believer, atheist & heretic please pray for me."

The amount of damage and the number of casualties were not known early on Wednesday. A 75-year-old man died while preparing for the storm in Puerto Rico's central mountains, police said.

Preparing for Irma

Several other Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as the US and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic were under a hurricane warning.

"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the NHC said, warning that Irma "will bring life-threatening wind, storm surge and rainfall hazards" to those islands.

Puerto Rico

Along the beachfront of Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, work crews scrambled to cover windows with plywood and corrugated metal shutters along Avenida Ashford, a stretch of restaurants, hotels and six-story apartments.

"I am worried because this is the biggest storm we have seen here," said Jonathan Negron, 41, as he supervised workers boarding up his souvenir shop.

The NHC said Irma ranked as one of the five most powerful Atlantic hurricanes during the past 80 years and the strongest Atlantic basin storm ever outside the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello urged the 3.4 million residents of the US territory to seek refuge in one of 460 hurricane shelters in advance of the storm and later ordered police and National Guard troops to begin evacuations of flood-prone areas in the north and east of the island.

"This is something without precedent," Rossello told a news conference.

Mobilising disaster relief

US President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, mobilising federal disaster relief efforts, the White House said.

Authorities in the Florida Keys called for a mandatory evacuation of visitors to start at sunrise on Wednesday, and public schools throughout South Florida were ordered closed, some as early as Wednesday.

Residents of low-lying areas in densely populated Miami-Dade County were urged to move to higher ground by Wednesday as a precaution against coastal storm surges, three days before Irma was expected to make landfall in Florida.

Several tiny islands in the resort-heavy eastern Caribbean were the first in harm's way.

Hurricane watches were in effect for Guadeloupe, Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Airlines cancelled flights to the region, and American Airlines added three extra flights to Miami from San Juan, Saint Kitts and Sint Maarten.

Residents of Texas and Louisiana were still recovering from Harvey, which struck Texas as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25. It dumped several feet of rain, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, and displaced more than one million people.