Hurricane Irma path: devastation in Caribbean as Florida orders evacuations – live

Most powerful hurricane ever recorded over
Atlantic Ocean batters Barbuda, St Martin
and Puerto Rico as it moves west with
category 5 winds and rains
Record-breaking Hurricane Irma wreaks
havoc: ‘It’s apocalyptic’
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Thursday 7 September 2017 07.01 BST
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Irma moves towards Dominican Republic
A fresh advisory from the US National
Hurricane Center says the hurricane’s
next path is north-east of the Dominican
Republic.
Its key points are:
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7.01am 07:01
Hurricane warnings are still in place for
Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic,
Haiti, south-eastern and central Bahamas,
and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Irma remains a category five hurricane
with winds of 180mph (290kph).
The eye is expected to move away from
Puerto Rico and on to Hispaniola ( the
Dominican Republic and Haiti) on
Thursday; and to close in on the Turks
and Caicos Islands and south-eastern
Bahamas by Thursday evening, local time.
A hurricane warning means
“preparations to protect life and property
should be rushed to completion” in those
areas as hurricane conditions are
expected.
A hurricane watch also remains in place
for Cuba and the north-western Bahamas,
where hurricane conditions are possible.
The clear-up operation is underway in St
Kitts & Nevis, which prime minister
Timothy Harris said was “spared the full
brunt” of Irma.
Harris said there had been “significant
damage” to property and infrastructure,
as well as power failures.
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6.45am 06:45
(@pmharriskn)
60 per cent of our island’s water supply has
been restored & it is expected that the
remainder will be reconnected shortly
#irmahurricane
September 7, 2017
Timothy Harris
Updated at 6.47am BST
Irma continues to hurtle towards another
British overseas territory, the Turks and
Caicos Islands, where the department of
disaster management and emergencies has
instructed residents to take shelter away
from the coast.
The US National Hurricane Center has
warned that storm surges could raise
water levels by 15-20ft (4.5-6m) above
normal.
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6.39am 06:39
The UK is responding after Anguilla – a
British overseas territory – was hit, Press
Association reports:
Foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the
UK is “taking swift action to respond” to
the disaster after speaking to the chief
minister of Anguilla, among the first
islands to be hit.
Britons in the region have been urged to
follow evacuation orders.
A British naval ship has been deployed to
help deal with the aftermath with 40 Royal
Marines on board, as well as army
engineers and equipment, as authorities
struggle to bring aid to smaller islands.
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6.22am 06:22
Although the eye of Irma has now passed
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands – on its
way next to Turks and Caicos – heavy
rains continue to lash the islands:
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6.09am 06:09
(@NWSSanJuan)
Bands of showers associated with Hurricane
Irma will continue to affect PR and the
USVI with wind gusts up to 40 to 50 mph.
#prwx #usviwx pic.twitter.com/xLEio7sRsO
September 7, 2017
NWS San Juan
Images are coming in from Puerto Rico ,
the most recent island struck by Irma,
where high winds and flash flooding are
causing significant damage:
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5.53am 05:53
Photograph: Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
Photograph: Alvin Baez/Reuters
The US embassy in the Bahamas has said it
will evacuate some staff and their families
on Thursday from Nassau and Freeport,
and will offer seats on the flights to US
citizens who want to leave Nassau.
It says two charter flights will leave, one in
the morning and one in the afternoon,
from the capital’s Lynden Pindling
airport, with places on the plane available
to US citizens “on a first come, first served
basis”.
It adds that passengers must “sign a
DS-5528 promissory note to repay the US
government for the cost of the ticket” and
“will not be able to select their
destination”.
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5.40am 05:40
Updated at 5.40am BST
Airlines have responded to criticism that
they were introducing opportunistic price
hikes as people rush to leave Florida ,
Reuters reports – but many flights have
been cancelled:
American Airlines said it would begin
winding down operations in south Florida,
including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West
Palm Beach, on Friday. Miami-bound flights
arriving on Friday from Europe and South
America were cancelled.
American, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue all
announced fare caps on flights out of
Florida – $99 on JetBlue and American and
$399 on Delta – for residents trying to get
out of the storm’s path.
“We want those trying to leave ahead of
the hurricane to focus on their safe
evacuation rather than worry about the
cost of flights,” JetBlue spokesman Doug
McGraw said.
As Irma approached, some social media
users had accused carriers of engaging in
price-gouging schemes ahead of the
dangerous storm.
United Airlines said it had suspended
operations out of San Juan, Puerto Rico .
Fort Lauderdale-based Spirit Airlines said it
expected its largest operational hub to be
affected and planned to move its operations
centre to Detroit on Thursday evening.
Canadian carriers Air Transat and WestJet
Airlines both launched evacuation
operations on Wednesday to remove
passengers in the Dominican Republic.
WestJet, Canada’s second-largest carrier,
operated rescue flights to Punta Cana and
Puerto Plata on Wednesday and could make
additional trips to Santa Clara and Cayo
Coco, Cuba, on Thursday.
Air Canada allowed passengers to change
flights in impacted areas free of charge.
Carnival Cruise Lines, which has major
operations in Florida, cancelled two of its
Bahamas-bound cruises and said it was
likely that other schedules would be
affected as the storm’s path and impact
became more clear.
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5.22am 05:22
Nearly every building was damaged when
the hurricane passed almost directly over
the island of Barbuda, leaving 60% of the
island’s population homeless:
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5.12am 05:12
Barbuda suffers ‘unprecedented’ damage from
Irma
This is not what the Caribbean needs:
Hurricane Jose on the heels of Irma.
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5.06am 05:06
(@weatherchannel)
Hurricane #Jose has rapidly intensified and
could near the northeastern Leewards this
weekend (we hope not!): https://t.co/
qUBDDDAyqU pic.twitter.com/W3Kjrnspnb
September 7, 2017
The Weather Channel
The person killed in Barbuda as Irma hit
was a two-year-old child.
Antigua and Barbuda prime minister
Gaston Browne said the child died when a
family tried to escape their damaged home
as the hurricane swept the island.
Browne said around 60% of the island’s
population of 1,400 people are now
homeless.
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4.57am 04:57
Updated at 4.59am BST
Ronald Jackson, executive director of the
Caribbean disaster and emergency
management agency, has been talking to
CNN:
Antigua was spared much of the brunt
of the storm … but Barbuda sustained
damage to 95% of the building stock
and one casualty.
There will be immediate moves on
Thursday to move people from Barbuda to
Antigua.
Jackson says there has also been one
fatality on the island of Anguilla, as well
as
damage to a lot of the critical
facilities: police stations, hospitals,
school facilities, three or four
emergency shelters, a home for the
infirm and the aged, as well as the fire
station.
We expect as well significant damage
to the housing stock in Anguilla.
He says there have also been “significant
reports of damage” from the British Virgin
Islands , where again critical facilities, as
well as homes, businesses and
supermarkets, have been destroyed.
The island of St Martin has suffered
“significant flooding, significant
infrastructure damage”, as has St Barts, he
says.
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4.49am 04:49
Hurricane Irma continues to break
sobering records: this time for the
duration of its (already record-breaking )
185mph winds:
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4.40am 04:40
(@philklotzbach)
#Irma has now had winds of 185 mph for 33
hrs - no other TC around the globe has been
this strong for so long in satellite era (since
1966). pic.twitter.com/RKorceW6nS
September 7, 2017
Philip Klotzbach
Evacuation order for Miami Beach
Following mandatory orders for residents
of some coastal areas of Miami-Dade
county to evacuate at 7am on Thursday,
Philip Levine, mayor of Miami Beach, says
residents there must leave from midday
Thursday:
Miami Beach businesses and residents
should evacuate to a relative or
friends’ home at a safer location. For
those unable to make necessary
accommodations, a list of open shelter
locations can be found here …
South Florida remains in the forecast
track for either a direct hit or major
storm impacts. Do not take this
lightly. Plan now to keep yourself and
your family safe.
There are no hurricane shelters in Miami
Beach so residents are advised to leave the
area entirely. The statement from the
mayor adds:
A list of evacuation pick-up sites are
listed here . Bus transportation to
evacuation shelters on the mainland
will be provided by Miami-Dade
county. County transit buses will
provide transportation to these
shelters from 21 different locations,
and cease operations and evacuations
three hours prior to the estimated
arrival of tropical storm force winds.
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4.33am 04:33
Irma is at this moment passing just to the
north of Puerto Rico .
The Puerto Rico electric company says
965,000 people – close to two-thirds of
customers – are without power. At least
50,000 people are without water. Fourteen
hospitals are relying on emergency
generators.
It is the fiercest hurricane to hit the island
since 1928, when Hurricane San Felipe
killed more than 2,700 people across
Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe and Florida . In
1989, Hurricane Hugo killed dozens in
Puerto Rico. There are not yet reports of
casualties from Irma, which is still moving
across the island.

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