Hurricane Irma heads towards Florida after tearing through the Caribbean
By
Matthew Taylor
8 September 2017
Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, is on its way to south Florida after devastating several Caribbean islands with 175-mile-per-hour winds and massive storm surges. At least 14 people have been confirmed dead so far.
As of this writing, Irma is passing to the north of Cuba as a Category Five Hurricane producing high winds and rain. On Thursday, after bypassing the Dominican Republic and Haiti to the north, the most dangerous section of hurricane had a direct hit on the British overseas territory of Turks and Caicos. Some 35,000 live just ten feet above sea level with storm surges expected to be double that.
On Wednesday morning, Hurricane Irma essentially destroyed the small island of Barbuda with 155-mile-per-hour winds and surges wiping out 90 percent of its structures, in what the prime minister said was “like a bomb being thrown on a city.” Severe damage was also caused in the French territory of St. Martin.
Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans remain without power after hurricane winds downed power lines and severely damaged the island’s public electrical system, which has suffered years of neglect and mass layoffs due to privatization efforts and the island’s crippling economic crisis.
Seventy percent of the US territory’s 3.4 million US citizens lost power in the storm and 17 percent of the island does not have access to safe water. Officials are warning of the continued danger of flash floods. The ports remained closed as obstructions are cleared and the infrastructure is checked for any damage. Puerto Rico imports 80 percent of its…