Irma: Florida prepares for worst with mandatory evacuations from ‘potentially devastating’ hurricane

‘Communities in southern Florida are preparing for the potentially catastrophic effects of Hurricane Irma as one of the most powerful storms the Atlantic has ever seen smashed its way through the Caribbean on its way towards the US coast.
As Irma travelled, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake, officials in several South Florida counties began to prepare for the potential landfall of a record-setting hurricane.
After hitting the US and British Virgin Islands on Wednesday, Irma headed toward the US territory Puerto Rico, and is expected to bring with it maximum sustained winds reaching 185 miles per hour.
Before hitting those islands, the storm yielded devastating results as it slammed Barbuda before moving over Saint Martin and Anguilla. The storm has already been blamed for at least $150m (£115m) in damages in Antigua and Barbuda, which lost all contact with the outside world during the storm.
The northernmost island, Barbuda, home to roughly 1,700 people, was “totally demolished”, with 90 per cent of all dwellings there levelled, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.’

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