Hurricane Irma has wreaked havoc on the Caribbean, battering the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with historic 297 km/h winds.
The Category 5 storm is the strongest Atlantic Ocean ever recorded, and is expected to remain a category four or five hurricane for the next couple days.
By comparison, Hurricane Harvey – which left at least 70 people dead and thousands of others displaced across Texas and Louisiana – made landfall with wind speeds of up to 212 km/h.
As the ABC points out, Hurricane Irma is roughly the size of Tasmania.
I am at a complete and utter loss for words looking at Irma’s appearance on satellite imagery. pic.twitter.com/B0ewFyvcSv
— Taylor Trogdon (@TTrogdon) September 5, 2017
Hurricane Irma is so strong it’s starting to show up on seismometers in the Caribbean — equipment designed to measure earthquakes. https://t.co/qJrSJ1v8gy
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 5, 2017
The United Nations says as many as 37 million people could be affected by Hurricane Irma.
Pictures from the International Space Station show the eye of the storm clearly visible from space.
The eye of Hurricane Irma is clearly visible from the space station as it orbited over the Category 5 storm on Sept. 5, 2017. pic.twitter.com/RpMzYw8NL2
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 6, 2017
And pictures and videos from the ground show the utter devastation Irma has left in its wake.
On Barbuda, it’s being reported that 90 percent of the buildings have been destroyed, and at least one death has been confirmed.
Sept 6th PM Barbuda Ham Radio Out, Satellite Phone Service Destroyed per PM https://t.co/ObF4ZdF30G pic.twitter.com/aHKnDbobiu
— Northlandfox (@northlandfox) September 6, 2017
In St Marin and St Barthélemy, at least two deaths have been confirmed.
[IRMA] Saint Martin dans le mur de l’oeil subit les effets de l’ouragan IRMA #iram #ouragan #SaintMartin (Source : Rinsy Xieng) pic.twitter.com/e2j7e9KtOu
— RCI Guadeloupe (@RCI_GP) September 6, 2017
These photos are from Gustavia St. Barts — sent to @wptv meteorologist @SteveWeagleWPTV of damage after #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/dwzVjg8ANO
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/ChuckThies/status/905414949652094977
https://twitter.com/vlnto/status/905576158804164608
In a text message to a French media company, St Barts senator Michel Margras said:
“I am shocked by the monster that covers us. The island is devastated. It is apocalyptic, a lot of damage, many roofs destroyed.”
And in Puerto Rico, 600,000 people are without power and 50,000 people are without water. 14 of the hospitals have lost power, forcing them to use generators. At least three people have been killed.
Got this video sent to me from Puerto Rico @WFTV pic.twitter.com/aSeRdMVSUx
— Martha Sugalski (@MarthaSugalski) September 6, 2017
All of the below pics show Puerto Rico, taken by Getty photographer Jose Jimenez. Fortunately for Puerto Rico, the eye of the storm passed just north of the island.
A state of emergency has been declared in Florida, where Irma is expected to hit by Sunday afternoon.
