Cuba lashed by category five winds as storm heads to US – as it happened

Hurricane Irma, which briefly dipped to
category four intensity, is now back up to
category five and has made landfall in Cuba.
Irma is now forecast to hit the Florida
Keys on Sunday morning, moving over south-
west Florida by Sunday afternoon , then
crossing the entire state over
approximately 30 hours of ferocious winds
and rains.
On Saturday, Irma continues to rake the
north coast of Cuba, where it first hit the
Camaguey archipelago on Friday night. It
is the first category five storm to make
landfall in Cuba for almost a century .
Saturday will also see tropical storm-
force winds lash Florida, ahead of Irma’s
arrival. Outer rain bands have already
reached the peninsula.
Florida has ordered 5.6 million people – a
quarter of the state’s population – to
evacuate , warning that those who do not
leave cannot expect rescue services to
reach them once Irma hits. A curfew
comes into effect in Palm Beach from 3pm
on Saturday.
Florida governor Rick Scott warned on
Friday:
In Georgia, 540,000 people on the coast
received mandatory evacuation orders.
The Bahamas meteorological office said
the main island of New Providence had
been spared the worst as Irma passed
close by, but the southern Bahamas had been
more badly hit .
At least 23 people have been confirmed
killed in the Caribbean so far. The first
victim of Irma was two-year-old Carl
Junior Francis in Barbuda. Eleven died on
French St Martin and St Barts, four in the
US Virgin Islands, three on Puerto Rico,
two on Dutch St Maarten and one in
Anguilla. A teenage surfer died off
Barbados in waves churned up by Irma,
and four deaths were reported on the
British Virgin Islands that have yet to be
corroborated.
Clear-up efforts on Caribbean islands –
to which Britain, France and the
Netherlands have sent support – have
been hampered by the approaching
Hurricane Jose.
Jose is forecast to hit islands already
ravaged by Irma – including Barbuda,
Anguilla, St Maarten, St Martin and St
Barthélemy – from Saturday. Hurricane
Jose, currently a category four, is “almost
category five” , the US National Hurricane
Center has said.
But Katia – formerly a category one
hurricane as it made landfall in Mexico –
has been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Cuba’s Meteorology Institute confirms the
US National Hurricane Center verdict:
Irma has made landfall there at category
five intensity.
A report on its website reads:
Hurricane Irma is striking Camaguey and
Ciego de Avila as a category five hurricane
…
The Camaguey weather station recorded a
200kph (124mph) gust of wind from the
northwest, causing the wind gauge to be
destroyed.
In Cayo Coco a gust of 187km per hour
[was recorded]; in Nuevitas a gust of
161km per hour and in Camaguey of 123km
per hour.
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7.32am 07:32
Here is what the latest forecast says about
Hurricane Irma’s predicted path:
Irma is moving toward the west near
12mph (19kph). A turn toward the
northwest is expected by late today
[Saturday].
On the forecast track, the centre of Irma
will move near the north coast of Cuba
today, near the Florida Keys Sunday
morning, and then near the southwest
coast of Florida Sunday afternoon.
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7.13am 07:13
The US National Hurricane Center says
Jose remains a category four storm as it
heads towards the Leeward Islands on
Saturday.
But Katia – formerly a category one
hurricane as it made landfall in Mexico –
has been downgraded to a tropical storm.
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7.03am 07:03
Latest hurricane warnings
A 2am local time advisory from the US
National Hurricane Center confirms that
Irma is still moving directly over Cuba’s
Camaguey archipelago and remains at
category five.
Irma is currently 85 miles (135km) east-
south-east of the Cuban northern city of
Caibarién, and about 275 miles (440km)
from Miami, with wind speeds of 160mph
(260kph).
Hurricane warnings are in place for the
following areas:
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7.01am 07:01
Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de
Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, and
Matanzas
North-western and central Bahamas
and Ragged Island
Florida Keys
Lake Okeechobee
Florida Bay
Volusia/Brevard county line southward
around the Florida peninsula to Anclote
River
Basil Dean, from the Bahamas meteorology
department in Nassau, says the effects of
Irma in some parts of the Bahamas has not
been as severe as was feared (the full
force of the hurricane was instead felt in
Cuba).
Dean told CNN:
Right now we’re having some light
rains here in the capital … we don’t
expect much more than we’re
experiencing right now, even though
we’re under a hurricane warning.
New Providence [the island where
Nassau and most of the population
are] is pretty much well to the east of
the centre circulation and we
anticipate the condition will be pretty
much the same: occasional rain
showers developing here and there.
But, he added, the island group did not
escape unscathed:
Ragged Island would have been the
last island in the Bahamas that would
have experienced the hurricane-force
winds.
In the south-east Bahamas, including
the Turks and Caicos Islands, there’s
been a major impact from Irma … The
eye passed directly over Ragged
Island.
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6.57am 06:57
Turks and Caicos Islands hit by
Hurricane Irma
Read more
Updated at 7.46am BST
Dutch naval commander Peter Jan de Vin
has shared images of relief efforts on Sint
Maarten, which is administered by the
Netherlands.
Dialysis patients were airlifted from the
stricken island on Friday:
Dutch troops dropped leaflets from
helicopters warning residents of the
approaching Hurricane Jose and advising
them to move to shelters:
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6.40am 06:40
(@C_ZMCARIB)
Geslaagde evacuatie dialyse patiënten uit
Sint Maarten met Kustwacht Dash 8.
Morgen volgt restant patiënten met
Hercules C-130 @kon_marine .
pic.twitter.com/K8MYRu3snQ
September 9, 2017
Peter Jan de Vin
(@C_ZMCARIB)
Flyers boven St Maarten vanuit heli
ZEELAND om bevolking te waarschuwen
voor orkaan José . Oproep om naar shelters
te gaan. @kon_marine #irma
pic.twitter.com/EvS5hLcLXK
September 9, 2017
Peter Jan de Vin
The evacuation ongoing in Florida and
beyond is among the largest in US history.
In Florida, 5.6 million people – that’s more
than one-quarter of the state’s population
– have been ordered to leave,
In Georgia, 540,000 people on the coast
received mandatory evacuation orders.
Florida governor Rick Scott warned on
Friday:
If you are planning to leave and do
not leave tonight, you will have to
ride out this extremely dangerous
storm at your own risk.
Officials said they would not risk sending
rescue and emergency services personnel
into the heart of the storm while it raged.
With Irma’s outer rain bands already
brushing the Florida coast, Saturday
morning is forecast to see the first tropical
storm-force winds . They will build until
Hurricane Irma arrives in its full intensity
– forecast on Sunday morning in the
Florida Keys.
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6.21am 06:21
Updated at 6.23am BST
Irma brushes Florida
The outer bands of Hurricane Irma have
reached the US, with rain and increased
wind speeds in south Florida and the Keys.
The centre of the storm remains over
northern Cuba, where the Camaguey
archipelago has borne the brunt.
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6.04am 06:04
(@NWSKeyWest)
1245a: Outer bands of #Irma are moving
into south Florida & down the upper and
middle Keys, gusts 40 to 50 mph are
possible. #FLkeys #flwx pic.twitter.com/
M0PhDqGEou
September 9, 2017
NWS Key West
Martin Farrer
Hurricane Jose has moved closer to
category five strength, with tops winds of
155mph (250kmh) as it heads towards the
eastern Caribbean islands ravaged by
Hurricane Irma.
Jose was about 265 miles (430km) east-
south-east of the northern Leeward Islands
early on Saturday and is forecast to hit the
outlying Caribbean islands later in the
day.
The US national hurricane centre said that
“air force hurricane hunters find Jose
even stronger … almost a category 5
hurricane”.
It issued hurricane warnings for the
eastern Caribbean islands of Barbuda and
Anguilla, Sint Maarten, St Martin and St
Barthélemy. A hurricane watch was in
effect for Antigua, while tropical storm
watch was in effect for Montserrat, St
Kitts and Nevis, British Virgin Islands , and
St Thomas and St John.
Many of Irma’s victims have already fled
their devastated islands on ferries and
fishing boats for fear of Jose, which is
currently ranked as a category four storm
that could punish some places all over
again this weekend.
“I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to
know that further damage is imminent,”
said inspector Frankie Thomas of the
Antigua and Barbuda police.
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5.53am 05:53
Hurricane Jose: storm 'almost category
five' as it follows Irma's destructive path
Read more
When will Irma reach Florida?
These graphics from the US National
Hurricane Center show first, the most
likely arrival times of tropical storm-force
winds (which will precede Irma’s full-
strength landfall), and second, the earliest
times such winds could arrive.
Although the hurricane itself is forecast to
arrive on Sunday morning, Florida will be
seeing extremely strong winds from
Saturday morning, sweeping up through
the state.

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