Hurricane Irma Path, Latest News: At Least 17 Deaths Reported in the Caribbean; Still a 'Dangerous' Hurricane Upon Reaching Florida
Hurricane Irma has become one of the most powerful and deadliest typhoons that devastated the Caribbean, killing at least 17 people as it eyes several parts of Florida.
Storm Surge, Hurricane Warnings Up in Florida
As of 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, Hurricane Irma is located 195 miles (mi) east of Caibarien, Cuba, and 345 mi southeast of Miami, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour making it a category 4 hurricane.
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Though the hurricane category has been downgraded, government agencies are still on high alert as Irma is still considered to be a very dangerous storm.
The National Hurricane Center has raised Storm Surge warnings for parts of Sebastian Inlet southward through the Florida Peninsula to Venice as well as in the Florida Keys. The said areas are likely to experience "life-threatening" floods due to water surges from the nearby coastlines in the next 36 hours.
Meanwhile, storm surges are also forecasted within the next 48 hours for areas including north of the Sebastian Inlet to the Flagler/Volusia County line, north of Venice to Anclote River, and Tampa Bay
Hurricane warnings are also up for many areas in Florida including the above-mentioned coastlines and locations as well as for Lake Okeechobee, Florida Bay, parts of the Bahamas and Cuba.
Irma will bring about 8-15 inches and an isolated possibility of 20 inches of rainfall accumulations in the Florida Keys, the majority of the Florida peninsula, and through areas in southeast Georgia. Meanwhile, areas in the western and northern parts of the Florida peninsula can expect 4 to 8 inches of rainfall activity, while the rest of eastern Georgia, the western part of South Carolina and western North Carolina might be seeing 4 to 7 inches. The rainfall forecasts are in effect through Tuesday night.
Devastation in the Caribbean
When Irma passed through Caribbean nations and islands, it was sustaining a strength of a category 5 hurricane. With that intensity, Irma pounded several territories leaving a rising number of deaths, injuries, power outages, and massive destructions.
According to The Guardian, reports confirm that a two-year-old child had died in Antigua and Barbuda and Prime Minister Gaston Browne declared that 90 percent of the infrastructures in the country had been destroyed. Meanwhile, the president of the local Red Cross organization, Michael Joseph, described Irma's havoc as "not like we've ever seen before."
Anguilla has also one confirmed death due to Hurricane Irma, as of this writing. The death toll is even more devastating in St. Martin and St. Barts where nine people were confirmed to have died -- seven are still reported missing plus 112 more have been injured. Like Barbuda, almost the entirety of St. Martin (95 percent) had also been destroyed.
Like other Caribbean states, the British Virgin Islands has also been placed under a state of emergency due to Hurricane Irma. However, the reported number of casualties in the region still needs confirmation. In the U.S. side of the Virgin Islands, on the other hand, four people have reportedly died due to the catastrophe.
In Puerto Rico, Irma tragically took three lives while volunteers and rescuers are still on the search for several others that have been reported missing. Thousands of residents are stranded in evacuation shelters.
Other Caribbean nations such as the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Turks and Caicos were not spared from the ravage of Hurricane Irma. Meanwhile, several parts of Cuba is also being pounded by the strong typhoon as of this writing.
