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Category 5 Hurricane Irma smashes Caribbean islands and charts path for Florida

THE full scale of Hurricane Irma’s destructive power has been laid bare with at least seven people dead including a toddler, and islands obliterated.

Victoria Craw, Debra Killalea and Emma Reynolds
5 min read
September 7, 2017 - 4:47PM
The destruction of Barbuda seen from above via local news outlet ABS TV/Radio. Picture: ABS TV/Radio/Facebook
The destruction of Barbuda seen from above via local news outlet ABS TV/Radio. Picture: ABS TV/Radio/Facebook

HURRICANE Irma has killed at least seven people, reduced islands to rubble and left hundreds of thousands without power as it tears through the Caribbean.

A two-year-old child was killed on the two-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda as a family tried to escape a damaged home, said prime minister Gaston Browne.

“Barbuda is practically uninhabitable,” he said. “It’s just total devastation, Barbuda now is literally rubble. It is absolutely heart-wrenching.”

The ferocious Category 5 hurricane damaged 95 per cent of the structures on the small island, with more than 800 people left homeless. Mr Browne said the damage was “horrendous”, with homes demolished and roads and telecommunications systems destroyed. He said the recovery effort would take months, if not years, and cost at least $100 million.

Irma also flattened 95 per cent of the idyllic French/Dutch resort island St Martin, with major damage to the airport, cars overturned and severe flooding in coastal villages.

St Martin is without drinking water or electricity and in dire need of emergency assistance, said local official Daniel Gibbs. “It’s an enormous catastrophe,” he told Radio Caribbean International. “I have a population to evacuate.”

The destruction wreaked on homes in Barbuda, where 60 per cent of people are now homeless. Picture: ABS TV/Radio/Facebook
The destruction wreaked on homes in Barbuda, where 60 per cent of people are now homeless. Picture: ABS TV/Radio/Facebook
French/Dutch island St Martin has suffered severe flooding, with villages devastated and major damage to the airport. Picture: AFP Photo/RCI Guadeloupe/Rinsy Xieng
French/Dutch island St Martin has suffered severe flooding, with villages devastated and major damage to the airport. Picture: AFP Photo/RCI Guadeloupe/Rinsy Xieng
At least seven are dead as historic Category 5 Hurricane Irma charts its path towards Florida. Pictured, Irma passing over the island of Barbuda. Picture: NASA/NOAA/UWM-CIMSS, William Straka III
At least seven are dead as historic Category 5 Hurricane Irma charts its path towards Florida. Pictured, Irma passing over the island of Barbuda. Picture: NASA/NOAA/UWM-CIMSS, William Straka III

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier warned “the toll will be harsh and cruel.”

There are now three hurricanes in the Atlantic, something that hasn’t happened for seven years.

As Irma tracked a path through the Caribbean with wind gusts of up to 360km/h, Hurricane Jose was 1675 kilometres east of the Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic and packing sustained winds of 120km/h, and Katia in the south-western Gulf of Mexico was blowing sustained winds of 121km/h. A hurricane watch was in effect for the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, where torrential rain is expected, according to the National Hurricane Centre.

Further west, Irma is tearing up Caribbean islands with historic 297km/h winds and gusts of 360km/h on its way to a potentially devastating hit on Florida.

Governor Rick Scott said he planned to activate 7000 National Guard soldiers by Friday and warned that Irma is “bigger, faster and stronger” than Hurricane Andrew, which pummelled south the state 25 years ago and wiped out entire neighbourhoods with ferocious winds.

Arizona meteorologist John Patrick said Irma had now had winds of almost 300km/h for 34 hours, longer than any other hurricane across the globe, with Typhoon Haiyan holding the record at 24 hrs in 2013. Haiyan killed 6300 people in the Phillippines alone.

“This could easily be the most costly storm in US history, which is saying a lot considering what just happened two weeks ago,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.

“It’s a humdinger,” said Colorado State University meteorology professor Phil Klotzbach, who warned the Leeward Islands would be destroyed. “This thing is a buzz saw.”

By Wednesday evening local time, the centre of the storm was 80km north of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, and heading west-northwest at 26km/h. More than half the island — around 900,000 people — was without power and nearly 50,000 people without water. Fourteen hospitals were using generators after losing power, and trees and telegraph poles were strewn across roads.

Blanca Santiago, who works in a beachside hotel in San Juan, said the howl of the wind whipping the coastline sounded “as if there were ghosts inside my home.”

On St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, Laura Strickling spent 12 hours sheltering in a dark, boarded-up basement apartment with her husband and one-year-old daughter. “One of the things we loved about St Thomas is that it was so green. And it’s gone,” said Ms Strickling, who moved to the island with her husband three years ago from Washington, DC. “It will take years for this community to get back on its feet.”

The strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever measured destroyed homes and flooded streets across a chain of small islands in the northern Caribbean, passing west directly over Barbuda and leaving the island of 1700 people virtually incommunicado.

Irma has already inflicted massive destruction. Picture: NOAA/NWS
Irma has already inflicted massive destruction. Picture: NOAA/NWS
Aerial vision shows Hurricane Irma's devastation in Barbuda

DEADLY, DEVASTATING IRMA

Irma is threatening millions of people in the Caribbean and Florida. Sky News weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders said while Harvey was destructive, Irma is packing a bigger punch.

Dangerous storm surges and record-breaking winds were adding to Irma’s destructive impact.

“The winds are much more powerful than with Harvey,” Mr Saunders said. “With mean winds of 295km/h and wind gusts to 360km/h, it’s certainly up there for the strongest on record.”

Irma is the equal strongest storm since Allen in 1980, which caused 269 deaths.

Mr Saunders said hurricanes form over water and dissipate once they hit land. “The warmer the ocean the more energy is available for a tropical cyclone to form,” he said.

He said Harvey produced more rain, but Irma has more room to grow. “Harvey was a Category 4 so less strong winds (209km/h) but slower in duration and therefore produced more rain,” he said.

Mr Saunders warned the destruction would be immense. “It’s catastrophic damage,” he said. “This storm system is expected to bring storm surges up to six metres to some low-lying areas of the Caribbean.”

He said a trio of hurricanes was not uncommon for this time of year, which is peak season. Irma’s strength is partly due to the fact that water in the area is around 1-1.8 degrees warmer than normal.

Hurricane Irma: In pictures
In a unique image, NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed over Hurricane Irma when the island of Barbuda was in the center of the storm’s eye. Picture: NASA/NOAA/UWM-CIMSS, William Straka III
VIEW GALLERY

If Irma hits Florida as a Category 4 or 5, it will be the first time in history that the US has been hit by two such storms in one year. Forecasters warn Irma could strike the Miami area by early Sunday US time before raking the entire length of the state’s east coast and pushing into Georgia and the Carolinas.

Multimillion-dollar homes belonging to Johnny Depp, Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey are under threat from the hurricane.

Celebrity homes under threat from Hurricane Irma. Picture: The Sun
Celebrity homes under threat from Hurricane Irma. Picture: The Sun

‘MAY GOD PROTECT US ALL’

The killer storm is so powerful it has registered as seismic activity on some instruments and packs more power than this year’s previous eight storms combined, according to a US scientist.

Emergency warnings are in effect across the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos with Cuba and Florida likely to be hit later.

Antigua resident Kazia phoned a local radio station to say she was “praying to God” while hunkered down without power. Visitors to the island were turned away from the closed airport on Tuesday with the words: “May God protect us all.”

Irma from space on Wednesday as it smashes the Caribbean islands of St Barts and St Martin with winds of more than 300km/h. Picture: AFP PHOTO / NOAA
Irma from space on Wednesday as it smashes the Caribbean islands of St Barts and St Martin with winds of more than 300km/h. Picture: AFP PHOTO / NOAA

IT COMES AS:

• The Governor of the British Virgin Islands ordered a 36-hour curfew for residents.

• Emergency evacuations were ordered for six islands in the Bahamas and parts of south Florida.

• The White House declared a state of emergency in Florida, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

• President Trump said it “looks like it could be something that will be not good. Believe me, not good.”

• Billionaire Richard Branson holed up in his wine cellar on Necker Island.

• The Environmental Protection Agency is concerned about oil spills and disruptions to water supply systems.

• Puerto Rico residents may be without electricity for four to six months.

• The Red Cross is bracing for a “major humanitarian response”, made worse by severe rainfall and the isolation of the islands.

• CARE Australia was preparing drinking water, food and shelter for residents in Haiti, which is still recovering from Hurricane Matthew a year ago.

The Australian government has warned those travelling to the region to follow local media reports and expect high winds and storm surges. For the latest advice, check the SmartTraveller website.

— With wires

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/category-5-hurricane-irma-smashes-caribbean-islands-and-charts-path-for-florida/news-story/85590ce60589006e3af7d8ad43ef7b55