After unleashing its fury on the Caribbean Islands and Puerto Rico, Hurricane Irma is now heading to Cuba and Florida, which has already been preparing for the Atlantic storm for a few days now. Irma has killed 14 people in the Caribbean.
Hurricane Irma is said to be one of the strongest storms that the region has seen with winds of about 290 km per hour. It first hit the dual-nation island of Antigua and Barbuda. Almost all the buildings have reportedly been damaged in Barbuda leaving about 1,400 residents homeless. Irma also brought strong winds in these regions accompanied by heavy rainfall, which left about 900,000 people without electricity.
Meanwhile, winds reduced on Thursday to about 280 km per hour as Irma hit Haiti, the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Virginia Clerveaux, director of Disaster Management and Emergencies, said that this was the first time that the Turks and Caicos Islands were facing a category five storm.
"We are expecting inundation from both rainfall as well as storm surge. And we may not be able to come rescue them in a timely manner," she said in comments broadcast on Facebook.
While John Freeman, governor of the Turks and Caicos said that the low lying areas had been evacuated, Clerveaux said that even the inland areas could be affected by the storm. "We are expecting inundation from both rainfall as well as storm surge. And we may not be able to come rescue [residents] in a timely manner," BBC quoted her as saying.
Irma heads to Florida
Meanwhile, Irma is likely to hit Florida on Sunday as a category four storm bringing massive rain and flash floods. "If you look at the size of this storm, it's huge," Florida Governor Rick Scott noted. "It's wider than our entire state and could cause major and life-threatening impacts on both coasts - coast to coast."
He has also ordered the closure of schools, colleges, universities, and government offices from Friday until Monday and also said that people must be ready to evacuate if the situation worsens.
Founder, president, and chairman of Accuweather Dr Joel N Myers explained that Florida is going to see quite some damage from Irma and the state will not be able to avoid it. "There will be massive damage in Florida. [It will be] the worst single hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992," Myers said.
In Georgia too, the governor has issued a mandatory evacuation order.
Another hurricane building up
Meanwhile, it looks like Harvey and Irma do not really spell the end of this weather as another storm Jose is building up in the region and has now been labeled as a category three storm. Jose is likely to pass through the places that have already been battered by Irma.
Also, Katia in the Gulf of Mexico has been upgraded to a hurricane and the Mexican state of Veracruz has been alerted.
