Deadly Hurricane Irma tears path through Caribbean as Florida evacuates

Hurricane Irma has claimed a new first.

 Still, neither compare in age to Harvey and Irma Schluter - who have been married for 75 years. 

The National Hurricane Centre has officially issued hurricane and storm surge warnings for South Florida and the Florida Keys.

Airlines are racing against the clock to clear as many customers as possible from the likely Florida path of Hurricane Irma, as social and political pressure mounts for carriers to play a bigger role in aiding evacuations.

Carriers are ramping up the number of flights available out of south Florida airports, where operations are likely to temporarily cease through the weekend and beyond.

But flights out of the area remained extremely limited. At Miami International Airport, many outbound flights were cancelled, leaving residents scrambling to rebook to anywhere outside the path of the storm.

American Airlines, which has one of the larger operations in south Florida, said on Thursday it had added 16 flights out of Miami, amid more than 2,400 forced cancellations through Monday.

Delta Air Lines Inc said it had upsized aircraft and added flights to increase the number of available outgoing seats by 2,000. United Airlines added six flights out of Miami to its hubs, including Newark, New Jersey, and Chicago O'Hare.

All three airlines said they planned to mostly wind down south Florida operations by Friday evening.

As residents sought to secure last-minute flights out of the dangerous Category 5 storm's path, airlines faced accusations of trying to capitalise on the panic and chaos by price gouging.

Under pressure from some members of Congress following social media reports, airlines have taken the unusual step of publicly announcing price caps on tickets out of areas in Irma's course.

Residents of the British territory of Turks and Caicos Islands are hunkering down as Hurricane Irma gives it a pummeling. 

Winds dipped to 175 mph as the Irma soaked the northern coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and brought hurricane-force wind to the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

It was the first time the Turks and Caicos islands had experienced a Category 5 storm, said Virginia Clerveaux, director of Disaster Management and Emergencies.

"We are expecting inundation from both rainfall as well as storm surge. And we may not be able to come rescue them in a timely manner," she said in comments broadcast on Facebook.

The few tourists who remained on the Turks and Caicos islands were in hotels, as were some locals.

"Right now I'm at the hotel with my family. There are a lot of people in the hotel. It's boarded up," said island resident Sofia Simmons, speaking from the Royal West Indies Hotel on Providenciales island. "Most of our shelters are packed to capacity. We had to open more shelters."

The five living former US presidents are creating the "One America Appeal" to raise money for storm recovery as Texas and Louisiana regroups from Harvey and Florida braces for Hurricane Irma.

The hurricane recovery effort was announced on Thursday by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Organisers say a special restricted account has been established through the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation to collect and quickly distribute donations. Officials say "100 cents out of every dollar" donated will help hurricane victims.

Donations designated to help victims of Harvey will be distributed to the Houston Harvey Relief Fund and the Rebuild Texas Fund. The appeal is expected to be expanded to help Irma victims.

Online donations can be made at OneAmericaAppeal.org. 

Two nuclear power plants in Florida are being shut down as the state braced for the storm.

Florida Power & Light said it would close the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants, which are both on the Atlantic coast.

Their defences were bolstered following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Spokesman Rob Gould said: "This is an extremely dangerous storm."

British Virgin Islands governor Gus Jaspert declared a state of emergency.

He told residents: "I would like to appeal to you to remain calm and to reassure we are doing all we can to assist you.

"Please, could any public service organisation or anyone with a truck that could offer assistance and have not made contact with the (National Emergency Operations Centre), do so now."

Many roads were said to be impassable and drivers were urged to avoid the roads unless "absolutely necessary" to allow access for emergency services.

Mr Jaspert also warned island dwellers that Hurricane Jose could yet reach them, anticipating the storm could be category three when it arrives at the weekend.

"Let us all continue to help each other however we can and continue to pray for each other, may God bless and protect the territory and our people," he said.

A promising young professional surfer has died at the age of 16 while catching a wave in Barbados during Hurricane Irma, the World Surf League said.

Zander Venezia, a native of Barbados, reportedly fell off his board and hit a shallow reef at a beach called Box by Box, it said. He and other surfers were riding a swell generated by the Category Five hurricane.

Speaking to the magazine Surfline, fellow surfer named Alan Burke said: "Zander was bleeding, and he wasn’t moving. They tried to get him to the beach quickly, which was very difficult.

"Box by Box is a tough place to get in and out of, even if you have the ability."

The son of a surfer, Venezia won the Rip Curl Grom Search in the Outer Banks in North Carolina in mid-August, and in April he won the National Scholastic Surfing Association regional championships.

The Barbados newspaper Nation News called Venezia one of the island’s most promising junior surfers.

Hurricane Jose has strengthened to a Category Three storm, as it follows in the path of Hurricane Irma, US weather forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm, located east of the Lesser Antilles, was packing winds of 120 miles per hour (195 kilometers per hour), as it moved northwest at nearly 18 miles per hour (30 kilometers per hour).

"Some additional strengthening is possible during the next 24 to 36 hours," the NHC said.

As Hurricane Irma threatens to pound Miami with winds of mind-boggling power, a heavyweight hazard looms over the city's skyline: two dozen enormous construction cranes, AP reports.

Because those cranes weren't designed to withstand a storm of Irma's ferocity, city officials are telling people who live in the shadows of the giant lifting devices to leave.

Construction sites across Irma's potential path in Florida are being locked down to prevent building materials, tools and debris from becoming flying missiles in hurricane winds.

The horizontal arms of the tall tower cranes, however, will remain loose despite the potential danger of collapse. City officials say they can't be tied down or moved.

Miami officials say it would take two weeks to move the cranes. The counterbalance on tower cranes weigh up to 30,000 pounds. 

This is how the following Caribbean islands have been affected by Hurricane Irma, reports Jamie Johnson:

Barbuda

Hurricane Irma has devastated the island of Barbuda, with its Prime Minister Gaston Browne calling the damage "heart-breaking and devastating." He added that 95 per cent of buildings on the island had been damaged and that "Barbuda is literally rubble." A two-year old has reportedly been killed but there are fears that the death toll will rise, with two British women reported missing by their mother. The sister island to Antigua was caught in the eye of the storm on Wednesday evening and it is estimated that 60 per cent of the 1,400 residents had been left homeless. The clean-up operation is expected to take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. More urgent is the need to evacuate again, because of the incoming storm Jose. This major storm is expected to pass Barbuda on Saturday and further cripple an island that is already reeling. With the airport destroyed, the only way out is by boat.

St Martin

On St Martin, at least four people have been confirmed dead by French officials although the local interior minister said this number could rise further. The island, which has Dutch and French territory, has seen large areas destroyed. French President Emmanuel Macron said that the impact was "hard and cruel" and called on the international community to commit to combating global warming "so that we can avoid such natural disasters in the future." He also confirmed that three emergency teams were being sent to the island, where the 90,000 residents are split roughly equally between Dutch and French territories. The harbour and airport are open again but roads have been destroyed and are impassable in many places.

St Barthelemy

St Barts, a French Island territory home to 9,000 people also suffered damage as the hurricane swept through the Caribbean last night. The island, seen as a slice of the French Riviera in the Caribbean and home to designer shops and expensive hotels is also picking up the pieces. The fire station has been flooded, and there is a total power blackout. The famous  Eden Rock hotel, owned by the parents of James Matthews, Pippa Middleton's husband, has been left in tatters by the storm. There have been reports of injuries but no fatalities.

Anguilla

Anguilla, a British territory has seen one death and widespread damage. So far, no British citizens have contacted the foreign office for assistance according to Alan Duncan, foreign minister for the Americas. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, has spoken to the Chief Minister for Anguilla and said that the UK is "taking swift action to respond" to the disaster.

Virgin Islands

Sir Richard Branson braved the eye of hurricane Irma along with family and staff on his private island of Necker in the British Virgin Islands. Later, his son Sam confirmed that "all humans on Necker are ok, although a lot of buildings destroyed." The other British Virgin Islands were hit by strong winds and heavy rainfall and it was reported by Sam Branson that multiple bays had been flooded on Tortola and that there was no power on Virgin Gorda.

Kenneth Mapp, US Virgin Islands governor, said the islands were getting badly needed federal help after Hurricane Irma significantly damaged St. Thomas and St. John with top winds of 150 mph for more than four hours. Fire and police stations collapsed and the main hospital in St. Thomas sustained heavy damage.

Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico, three people have died, including one elderly woman who fell en route to a shelter. In the north-west of the island a woman was electrocuted in her home, and one man died after a traffic accident. Government activity will be suspended from tomorrow and all public schools will be shut. The governor says that although the hurricane has passed, they are expecting more rain in the next few days. More than one million people do not have electricity, while 200,000 residents are still without water. Hospitals are a concern, with over half not operational and 30 relying on back-up generators for power. The government has reported that there have been 198 road injuries caused mainly by fallen trees, 127 flights cancelled and 500 pets abandoned or left behind after the hurricane.

Dominican Republic

"We expected much worse" said Lindsay Sauvage, speaking to the New York Times from the Dominican Republic. With much more time to prepare, officials fanned out across the country and the government cancelled work for public and private companies so that workers could prepare for the hurricane. Wind and rain has caused minor damage to beachfront properties and hotels, with some holidaymakers forced to sleep in the theatre of one hotel in the East of the island.

Where is the hurricane headed to next?

Hurricane Irma is expected to pass near Haiti, where all schools have been closed, and is headed towards the Bahamas Turks and Caicos and then Cuba. Hurricane warnings are in place and residents have been made aware of the danger that could ensue. In Cuba, a hurricane watch is in effect for eastern parts of the country, including the province of Guantanamo, home to Guantanamo Bay Prison. The hurricane is expected to make landfall in Florida on Saturday morning, with airports, public buildings and schools already shutting ahead of the storm. Florida Governor Rick Perry has urged residents to evacuate their homes, saying "this is not a storm you can sit and wait through. We can't save you after the storm starts."

The billionaire philanthropist has said that "whole houses" on his private island in the Caribbean have been swept away by the storm, leaving it "completely and utterly devastated".

"We took shelter from the strongest hurricane ever inside the concrete cellar on Necker and very, very fortunately it held firm," Branson said in a blog post.

"I have never seen anything like this hurricane. Necker and the whole area have been completely and utterly devastated.

While he and his staff - who he says are all safe and well - are still assessing the damage, Branson said that whole houses and trees have disappeared and that doors and windows have flown "40 feet away."

Branson added that his company have made a donation to the British Red Cross and that a Virgin Atlantic flight to Antigua on Thursday had brought in aid supplies, including blankets and bottled water.

However he urged the British government to send as much help as possible, adding that the British Virgin Islands, where Necker island is located, would need "major help to rebuild people's homes, buildings, livelihoods."

Ruth Bolton, the aunt of two missing British women, has called on the billionaire to help her find her family. Having raised money on GoFundMe to buy satellite phones to contact her nieces,  she is trying to find a way to fly them from the UK to Barbuda, where the women live.

The French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said four people are confirmed dead and approximately 50 injured on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. However the death toll was lower than one given earlier Thursday by France's interior minister Gerard Collomb, who said eight people had been killed on French Caribbean territories.

Philippe said four bodies have been found on Saint Martin, a part-French, part-Dutch island and are being identified. The Dutch authorities have not reported any casualties thus far.

The prime minister added that one person faces life-threatening injuries and two others were in serious condition.

Georgia's governor, Nathan Deal, has ordered a mandatory evacuation starting on Saturday from the state's Atlantic coast.

The order, which affects all areas east of Interstate 95, all of Chatham County and some areas west of the interstate, authorises approximately 5,000 Georgia National Guard members to be on active duty to help people respond and recover.

Georgia hasn't been hit by a hurricane with winds Category 3 or higher since 1898. 

While some hurricanes have lasted longer than Irma, no other storm in recorded history has maintained top winds of 185 p.m. for 37 hours.

Phil Klotzbach, a Colorado State University hurricane expert, says Irma's intensity breaks the previous record - held by Typhoon Haiyan - which had similar top winds for 24 hours before it hit the Philippines and killed 6,000 people in 2013.

Donald Trump has said the US is as well prepared as they possibly can be for the hurricane, adding he thinks Irma is more powerful than Hurricane Harvey.

The US President voiced serious concern as Hurricane Irma cut a path of devastation across the Caribbean towards Florida.

"We are very concerned, we are working very hard" he said in the Oval Office. "We think we are as well prepared as we could possibly be.

"Florida is as well prepared as you can be for something like this, now it's just a question of what happens."

He added: "We are with the people of Florida."

Harvey, which brought devastation and destruction to Texas last week, was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005.

The Government has increased the money available for the Hurricane Irma relief  effort to £32 million, Prime Minister Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister announced the increase following a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee on Thursday afternoon.

Earlier today Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said the UK was doing its "utmost" to bring urgent assistance.

Delivering an urgent statement on the disaster in the Commons, Sir Alan told MPs that £12million had been made immediately through its "rapid response mechanism for disaster relief and recovery".

Sir Alan said the Government's focus was on "everybody", not just tourists in the Caribbean. He said:

"We really have complete overall concern particularly for our overseas territories which are affected and to that end we have £12 million immediately available through our rapid response mechanism for disaster relief and recovery.

"We are pulling out all the stops to make sure that we can do our utmost to bring urgent assistance, once we, with the professionalism Dfid has, does the assessment to make sure we know who are in greatest need and then we can use our adeptness and flexibility urgently to address those who most need our help."

Sir Alan said RFA Mounts Bay was in the Caribbean and should reach the affected territories later on Thursday, and was loaded with equipment intended to respond to disasters such as that caused by Irma.

He added: "Dfid stands ready to charter flights to deliver additional supplies as appropriate."

Ruth Bolton, the aunt of two young British women who were on the island of Barbuda when it was hit by Hurricane Irma, has called on the billionaire philanthropist to help her contact her nieces.

Branson's private island, Necker, was hit Hurricane Irma but he rode out the storm in his wine cellar.

Ruth said: "The silence is unbearable. Richard Branson has felt the Hurricane's effects from his island so he knows what it's like and it is so important for the Barbudans to contact their families."

Ruth has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for a satellite phone for Barbuda so she can get in touch with her family and urges the Virgin Airways boss to fly them over.

She added: "Since I set up the GoFundMe page we have raised all the money to buy the satellite phones but I've tried ordering them from Antigua but they don't have any, and through Miami but they are also affected by the storm.

"I'm now looking to order them from the UK and if Richard Branson could fly them over it would be amazing."

She last heard from the former Miss Antigua Asha Frank, 29, and her seven-month pregnant sister Afiya, 27, at 10.30pm on Wednesday.

Ruth, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said the two women messaged her on Whatsapp to say they were preparing for the hurricane.

She added: "We know the first thing they would do once they could was to contact us and tell us they are OK so it is worrying that they haven't."

"In preparation for the hurricane, the electricity was turned off in the island- which is the safest thing for them to do but means we can't get in touch with them.

"It's awful waiting to hear the news about them and we are worried if nothing is done quickly that they will have spent another night stranded."

British holidaymakers have been forced to find refuge in the theatre building of a hotel in the Dominican Republic, as the category five hurricane rages on.

The Dreams hotel, where the travellers have been hiding, is in Punta Cana, a region on the easternmost tip of the island.

Leslie and Janet Oliver, a couple from Cambridge, are among the holidaymakers forced to find refuge.

The Queen, who is the constitutional monarch of Antigua and Barbuda has offered her thoughts and prayers following the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

She said: "Prince Philip and I have been shocked and saddened by the reports of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed or adversely affected by this terrible storm.

"Please convey my gratitude and good wishes to members of the emergency services and to those who are working on the rescue effort at this very difficult time for you all."

The comments, made by Sir Alan Duncan, came after the Green Party MP urged the Government to show the leadership on the climate change it "likes to claim in theory".

"May I just say that I think she has deeply misjudged the tone of this House today," said Sir Alan Duncan, who updated MPs about the hurricane today.

"We are seeing people in deep and urgent, immediate need, and we are also leading the world on climate change, and she ought to show a bit more urgent and immediate humanity than make the point she's made today."

Ms Lucas had said she welcomed the minister's commitment to immediate relief for those affected.

She added: "With respect, I think that today is precisely the day we need to be talking about those broader causes.

"As we just heard, Gaston Brown, the leader of Antigua and Barbuda, is talking about climate change today.

"Can he reassure the house that we don't have to wait for a hurricane to hit the UK before we have the kind of policies we need from this Government to tackle climate breakdown?

"Because without that, we are not going to see the climate leadership that this Government likes to claim in theory actually being shown in practice."

While Irma's precise course remains uncertain, the hurricane is likely to be downgraded to a Category 4 storm by the time it makes landfall in Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Irma has become a little less organised over the past few hours, says the NHC, but the threat of a direct hurricane impact in Florida over the weekend and early next week is increasing.

Meanwhile, the hurricane has claimed another life, raising the death toll of Hurricane Irma to at least 11.

Florida Governor Rick Scott has urged residents in evacuation areas to leave because "we cannot save you after the storm starts".

Speaking at the City of Hialeah Emergency Management Center, he said that one of the top priorities was the availability of fuel, assuring residents: "We are working around the clock to get fuel to you."

In a further bid to calm Floridians, he said that residents should get in touch with Florida's transportation hotline if they had concerns about evacuating, adding: "We will get you out."

Across the state, universities have cancelled classes and closed campuses, while Miami-Dade public schools have already shut their doors.

The Miami International Auto Show, scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed and major tourist attractions including Miami Zoo, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Discovery and Science will also be closing today.

In a twist, a City of Miami meeting to discuss how it can help with the Hurricane Harvey relief effort, has been cancelled. The Floridians are preparing for a relief effort of their own. 

Airports in the Bahamas are shutting down with the approach of Hurricane Irma.

The government said the international airport in Nassau will close late on Thursday and it urged people who plan to leave the island chain east of Florida to check with airlines for space.

Grand Bahama's airport and the less-populated island throughout the chain will close by noon Friday.

Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach is one of the resorts in the path of Hurricane Irma, said his administration is monitoring Irma closely.

"It looks like it could be something that could be not good, believe me not good," the US President said.

Here are the other Trump resorts in the path of the hurricane:

President Donald Trump is urging people to "be careful, be safe" during Hurricane Irma.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, he said that Irma "is raging but we have great teams of talented and brave people already in place and ready to help." Trump asked people to "be careful, be safe!"

He had said on  Wednesday that the storm "looks like it could be something that could be not good, believe me, not good".  

French President Emmanuel Macron said France is "grief-stricken" by the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma - and he is calling for concerted efforts to tackle global warming and climate change to prevent similar future natural disasters.

Speaking  during a visit to Greece, Macron said the planet's situation must be stabilised and that leaders must make take steps to combat global warming "so we can avoid such natural disasters in the future."

The Florida Highway Patrol says troopers are monitoring the high volume of traffic heading north on Florida's Turnpike as people evacuate South Florida.

In a news release on Thursday, the highway patrol said extra troopers, road rangers and wreckers will be on the roads to help drivers.

The agency says disabled vehicles left on the hard shoulders would be towed starting on Thursday morning to make it easier for emergency workers who are trying to reach crash victims.

Turnpike officials are also using cameras along the road to monitor conditions.

On the US mainland, authorities fear the hurricane might slam into the Florida peninsula over the weekend, just days after Storm Harvey devastated Texas.

Forecasts suggest Irma's most destructive winds could carve up much of Florida's priciest real estate, damaging properties from the Florida Keys through to Jacksonville as it swirls north.

Officials are making preparations to potentially shut down two nuclear power stations in the Sunshine State, while evacuation orders have been issued in parts of Miami and the Florida Keys.

Hurricane Irma will have a "truly devastating" impact when it slams into southern coastal areas of the United States, the head of the US emergency agency said on Thursday.

"The majority of people along the coast have never experienced a major hurricane like this," said Brock Long, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "It will be truly devastating."

The Dutch prime minister says Hurricane Irma was a storm of "epic proportions" when it slammed into the former Dutch colony of Saint-Maarten in the Caribbean and is appealing to Dutch citizens to donate to a relief fund set up by the Red Cross.

Speaking on Thursday after a meeting of the government's crisis committee, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said there are no reports yet of casualties on the Dutch side of the island. He said the damage is huge, particularly on Saint-Maarten, with "widescale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses".

He said: "There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are under water, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark, in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world."

The Dutch military is preparing two aircraft to fly to the region to distribute vital aid to the shattered territory, which is home to some 40,000 people. However, the airport on the Dutch side of the island is badly damaged.

Hurricane Irma has produced sustained winds at 183mph for more than 33 hours, making it the longest-lasting, top-intensity cyclone ever recorded, France's national weather service said.

"Such an intensity, for such a long period, has never been observed in the satellite era," which began in the early 1970s, said Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at Meteo France.

"And it is continuing," he said, adding that Irma would probably remain a category five storm at least until it hits the Bahamas.

On Thursday morning, Irma's eye was about 95 miles north of Punta Canta on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic, having passed Puerto Rico, where it left more than 900,000 people without power.

Irma is moving at around 16mph on a course forecast to take it toward Turks and Caicos and the south-eastern Bahamas by Thursday evening, and near the Central Bahamas by Friday.

An alert sent by the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies on Grand Turk urged residents near the coasts to take shelter on higher ground, warning the storm surge could raise water levels by 15 to 20 feet above the normal tide.

Maximum sustained winds have fallen slightly to 180 mph (285 km/h) with higher gusts, and the storm is forecast to remain a category four or five over the next few days.

Some 95 per cent of the French side of Saint-Martin, the Caribbean island half of which is Dutch, has been "destroyed", said a local official, reports Henry Samuel.

Daniel Gibbs, president of the territorial council, said the entire island was in a "state of shock".

He added: "This is a huge catastrophe: 95 per cent of the island of Saint-Martin is destroyed."

Steve Prudent, a local journalist with Outre-mer 1ere, recounted how he had sought refuge in a hotel that was deemed a "safe place".

However, he said; "several bedrooms literally imploded", while the concrete walls "shook like cardboard".

"Everything that didn't have a minium of solidity no longer exists," he said. "It's a nightmare."

In Saint-Barthélemy, the French island, one inhabitant, Kevin, told BFM TV: "We discovered horror. This is no longer the same place we lived in before. I really get the impression I'm no longer on the same rock."

The state prefect of Guadeloupe, a French island that escaped the worst of the storm, said: "The situation is dramatic. The two islands are without drinking water, without electricity, public buildings are unusable.

"Houses are destroyed, trees uprooted and the emergency services themselves are devastated."

Aid was being sent from Guadeloupe to the islands, including 150 French rescue workers who arrived there on Thursday. 

A French military plane was due to land on an airstrip on the north of Saint-Martin. It is carrying water and medical equipment, and sniffer dogs to find victims buried under debris.