MARIGOT: Monster Hurricane Irma slammed into the French Caribbean islands on Wednesday after making landfall in Barbuda, packing ferocious winds and causing major flooding in low-lying areas.
As the rare Category Five storm barreled its way across the Caribbean, it brought gusting winds of up to 294 kilometers per hour, weather experts said.
After making landfall just before 0600 GMT in Barbuda, part of the twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, the hurricane swept on to French-run Saint Barthelemy, also known as St Barts, and Saint Martin, an island divided between France and the Netherlands.
The French weather office said Irma was “a historic hurricane with an unprecedented intensity over the Atlantic,” with a French minister saying it had already “caused major damage” across the two territories.
Coastal areas were being “battered extremely violently” by the sea, with the weather office logging winds of 244 kph (151 mph) before its monitoring equipment was destroyed by the hurricane.
With the islands on maximum alert ahead of the arrival of the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, France had raised the alarm over the fate of some 7,000 people who refused to seek shelter. France’s minister for overseas territories said the islanders had likely underestimated the power of the storm.
Dutch national broadcaster NOS also reported “enormous damage” on Saint Martin, with residents speaking of widespread destruction.
The massive hurricane, which is beating a path northwest, was also expected to hit the larger French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
On Wednesday, as the storm was still over the Atlantic, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it was the strongest hurricane ever recorded over that part of the ocean.
With forecasters warning of catastrophe, including surges of up to 20 feet above normal tide levels, people evacuated tourist areas, stocked up on provisions, and packed into shelters across an area stretching as far north as Florida.
Irma, which is expected to stay in the region for days, follows hot on the heels of Hurricane Harvey which devastated swathes of Texas in late August.
As the hurricane approached, President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, authorizing federal funding to help local authorities respond.
“My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary!” he tweeted.
Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2017
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