With much of Texas still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma is threatening much of South Florida. Many residents from Florida to the Carolinas are preparing for the major category five storm.
It’s official: No storm on record, anywhere on the globe, has maintained winds 185mph or above for as long as #Irma https://t.co/X4zVpDjZPs pic.twitter.com/yss06UYq6m
— CNN (@CNN) September 7, 2017
Hurricane #Irma is “one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century”. We need to #ActOnClimate now. https://t.co/iz3NjHVhSZ pic.twitter.com/7iSA7WivMJ
— Greenpeace Canada (@GreenpeaceCA) 7 September 2017
Supermarket shelves are already barren and hardware stores are seeing a spike in sales. Water, batteries, torchlights, emergency kits, and weatherproof clothing are just a few of the essentials.
Just mention a hurricane near Florida and look at the bottled water shelf at Publix. #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/Ow90EIZalH
— Adam Parish (@adamparish) September 4, 2017
Devastatingly, Irma has already made landfall in some of the Eastern Caribbean islands and has passed through some islands of the Greater Antilles. The damage done in the Eastern Caribbean, including St. Martin (French side), Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, St. Maarten (Dutch side), St Barts, and the Virgin islands ( US and British), is insurmountable. According to the Royal Dutch Navy, the southern half of St. Maarten suffered severe damage and on the French side, the island is considered barely inhabitable. The footage from a BBC video shows the damage done to the country courtesy of the Dutch Forces
Before and after images show devastation caused by #hurricaneirma across St Martin
Latest news https://t.co/9YOHgEYNYv pic.twitter.com/uL3zKnWYsx
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 7, 2017
The world famous Princess Juliana international Airport, the main airport for St Martin is so badly damaged it is unreachable.
Princess Juliana International Airport is completely destroyed.. #HurricaneIrma #PrayForSXM pic.twitter.com/FpPqM2Ushh
— Chiara Rojo (@chiararojosxm) September 7, 2017
This also applies for the small island of Barbuda, from Antigua and Barbuda this island is in rubble with 95% of the island destroyed. According to the Prime Minister there has been one reported death so far but the island is uninhabitable. Hurricane Jose, which is closely following Irma is set to become a major hurricane by Friday and a Hurricane watch has now been issued again for this island.
The people of Antigua and Barbuda have already been through so much in the past 48 hours. https://t.co/1i0EFudC1w
— Lily Herman (@lkherman) September 7, 2017
Irma has also caused damage in Puerto Rico, with much of the country without electricity, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Irma has already made records by maintaining its high winds. There have been three recorded deaths in Puerto Rico and 13 deaths overall. Many countries are trying their best to re-evaluate everything after the destruction of Irma and many Americana are praying for safety in Florida.
#HurricaneIrma is now to affect the Dominican Republic and Haiti, before heading into Turks and Caicos. #Irma #IRMA pic.twitter.com/CZXFUA3aiF
— ((((Hawks)))) (@rhollister57) 7 September 2017
