Hurricane Irma: what we know so far
Hello and welcome to Thursday’s coverage of Hurricane Irma. Here’s a round-up of the latest news:
- The eye of Hurricane Irma, still a category 5 storm with sustained winds of 180mph (290kph), moved westward off the northern coast of Hispaniola on Thursday morning, its winds raking the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The storm’s projected path Thursday brings it almost directly over the British possessions of Turks and Caicos, followed by a course near the southern Bahamas.
- At least 10 people have been reported dead in the wake of the storm: an infant on Barbuda, one person in Anguilla and eight in the French territory of St Martin. Thousands more remain in shelters, their homes damaged or destroyed. In Puerto Rico, almost a million people are without power and 50,000 without water, according to the US territory’s department of emergency relief.
- Florida governor Rick Scott has ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal stretches of south Florida, including the vulnerable Florida Keys. Fuel shortages have begun at gas stations around the state, which only has two major north-south highways, and authorities have opened shelters in inland areas.
- The storm is expected to make landfall in Florida early Saturday, though it remains unclear where exactly the hurricane will hit the mainland.
- On Barbuda, prime minister Gaston Browne said Irma had made 90% of the tiny island’s structures “literally rubble” and that half the population was homeless. On French-administered St Martin, local councilman Daniel Gibbs told a local radio station “95% of the island is destroyed”. French authorities have sent naval ships with supplies to the island.
- In Haiti and the Dominican Republican, authorities closed all schools. Haitian president Jovenal Moïse urged people in rural areas to head to shelters and out of the mountains. “The hurricane is not a game,” he said in a television address. On the Bahamas, prime minister Hubert Minnis ordered people to leave six southern islands, the largest evacuation in the country’s history.
- Already one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, Irma held sustained winds of 185mph for over 24 hours before it slowed to its current speed, making it the most enduring hurricane since the 1960s when satellite monitoring began. President Donald Trump has declared states of emergency in the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida.
- “Do not ignore evacuation orders,” Scott told Floridians on Wednesday. “We can rebuild your home but we cannot rebuild your life.”
