Hurricane Irma: Cuba hit with strong winds and heavy rain

Hurricane Irma is lashing Cuba with strong winds and
heavy rain after devastating several Caribbean islands.
The hurricane made landfall on the Camaguey
Archipelago, in Cuba's north-east, as a category five
storm but has now weakened to a category three.
The Bahamas have largely been spared.
In Florida, 5.6 million people, or 25% of the US state's
population, have been told to leave as the storm
approaches. At least 20 people are known to have died
so far across the Caribbean.
Irma hit the Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago late on
Friday, threatening nearby coastal towns and villages.
It was the first category five hurricane to hit Cuba in
decades. It weakened to category three by Saturday
lunchtime but is expected to strengthen again as it
approaches Florida.
At 12:00 GMT, Irma had maximum sustained winds of
209km/h (130mph), the National Hurricane Center in
the US said.
It has brought vast amounts of rainfall to parts of
Cuba, with extensive flooding reported in the fishing
village of Caibarien.
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Power lines have been brought down in several parts of
the central province of Camaguey, and communication
is becoming increasingly difficult with towns in more
remote areas, the BBC's Will Grant in Havana reports.
Thousands of people have been evacuated but many
others stayed to ride out the storm.
Cuban officials reported "significant damage", without
giving further details, but said there were no confirmed
casualties yet, AFP news agency reported.
Earlier, people tried to secure their roofs and move
belongings from low-lying coastal areas to higher
ground.
"There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off
and on, and the lights are out," Anaida Gonzalez, a
retired nurse in the Camaguey province, told Reuters.
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About 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba,
with resorts on the north coast now empty, the news
agency reports.
Irma is expected to hit Florida on Sunday, but the outer
bands are already affecting the south of the state and
downtown Miami is being lashed by heavy rain.
About 25,000 people are currently without electricity,
energy provider Florida Power and Light reported.
Florida Governor Rick Scott issued a stark warning to
those in threatened areas on the west coast.
"Look, it's getting late," he told NBC. "If you're not on
the road on the west coast by noon [16:00 GMT], you
need to get to a shelter, get to a friend's house if
you're in an evacuation zone. Get off the road."
He said that storm surges in coastal areas could be as
high as 12ft (3.7m), adding that people "cannot survive
this".
Some 50,000 people have gone to shelters throughout
the state, the governor said. Media reports say shelters
in some areas have been filling up quickly and some
people have been turned away.
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Which other areas have already been hit?
St Martin and St Barthelemy: Six out of 10 homes
on St Martin, an island shared between France and
the Netherlands, now uninhabitable, French
officials say. They said nine people had died and
seven were missing in the French territories, while
two are known to have died in Dutch Sint Maarten
Turks and Caicos Islands: Widespread damage,
although extent unclear
Barbuda: The small island is said to be "barely
habitable", with 95% of the buildings damaged.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston
Browne estimates reconstruction will cost $100m
(£80m). One death has been confirmed
Anguilla: Extensive damage with one person
confirmed dead
Puerto Rico: More than 6,000 residents of the US
territory are in shelters and many more without
power. At least three people have died
British Virgin Islands: Widespread damage reported
US Virgin Islands: Damage to infrastructure was
said to be widespread, with four deaths confirmed
Haiti and the Dominican Republic: Both battered
by the storm, but neither had as much damage as
initially feared
Are there more hurricanes to come?
Another storm, Jose, further out in the Atlantic behind
Irma, is now a category four hurricane , with winds of
up to 240km/h (150mph).
It is following a similar path to Irma and already
hampering relief efforts in some of the worst affected
areas.
Residents of Barbuda, where 95% of buildings have
been destroyed by Irma, have now left the island as
Jose approaches.
Hurricane Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, a category one
storm with winds of up to 75mph, made landfall on the
Mexican Gulf coast in the state of Veracruz late on
Friday.
The storm is expected to weaken rapidly in the coming
hours.

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