Hurricane Irma continued its remorseless and destructive path across the Caribbean on Friday, leaving at least 23 confirmed dead and affecting an estimated 1.2 million people as it hurtled towards Florida.
Despite being downgraded to a category 4 storm as it moved between Cuba and the Bahamas, Irma was still classed as “extremely dangerous” with winds reaching 150mph.
With the death toll expected to rise, the International Red Cross warned that up to 26 million people could be affected by the storm.
Two other hurricanes in the region, Jose and Katia, have both gained strength, with Jose now classed as an extremely dangerous category 4.
Those living on islands already devastated by Irma fear a second brutal battering. Voluntary evacuation was underway from Barbuda, where one person died. Having suffered near total devastation from Irma earlier this week, it is now bracing itself for Jose.
Barbuda’s prime minister, Gaston Browne, described the damage as “absolutely heart-wrenching”. “The island is literally under water” and “barely habitable” Browne said. About 95% of properties are damaged, there is a serious threat of disease and the island is now potentially in the path of another storm, he added.
A local journalist, Anika Kentish, who managed to get to Barbuda from neighbouring Antigua, said: “The sand was just covered with seaweed and debris. The trees have just gone and even the few standing were totally destroyed, not a leaf in sight.”
Fishermen with boats were helping evacuate Barbudans to neighbouring Antigua. About one-third of the island’s population has already been evacuated and there were efforts on Friday to move another 800 people across the water. Antiguans were being urged to open their homes to their Barbudan neighbours.
A Unicef representative, Khin Sandi Iwin, who is based in Barbados, said the evacuations of Barbuda and the Turks and Caicos islands by boat was extremely difficult because of the rough seas.
Communications on the low-lying Turks and Caicos islands went down as Irma hit them early on Friday, with the result that the extent of the devastation is unclear. As the storm pummelled the islands – which are only 50 metres (163ft) above sea level at their highest point – there were fears that inland areas could be inundated by the storm surge.
Irma ripped off roofs, snapped utility poles and caused widespread blackouts. Some islanders had left and the Turks and Caicos governor, John Freeman, warned those who remained: “Hunker down, stay where you are. Nobody can get to you – people are, for a little while, on their own.”
A mass evacuation was underway in south Florida in anticipation of Irma hitting early on Sunday. Half a million people fled the storm’s path as the state’s governor, Rick Scott, warned it would be “bigger than our entire state”.
Those living in the Florida Keys and in southern low-lying areas of the state, left behind boarded up homes and boats in vulnerable marinas, to join huge traffic jams, amid concerns that fuel was running out.
Miami Beach’s police captain, Paul Acosta, tweeted: “We are embarking on our greatest test as a city. I pray for our residents and all of my colleagues city-wide. We are ready!”
Fringes of the storm reached the eastern tip of Cuba on Friday before moving towards the northern coast, where tourists had been evacuated from resorts and, under a mandatory evacuation order, tens of thousands of residents in the area moved inland. Some were taking refuge in bomb shelters dating from the Cuban missile crisis.
One local man, describing the fear, said: “Look at the state of the houses that people have here and you realise the magnitude of the hurricane. What will happen to the town? What will happen to the people?”
There were fears, too, for hundreds of people who ignored evacuation orders in the Bahamas, which had been preparing for a direct hit. Five islands in the archipelago – Great Inagua, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island and Ragged Island – were expected to be worst hit. Captain Stephen Russell, of the Bahamas national emergency management agency, said some people were too stubborn to heed warnings. “I fear for those people,” he said. There was “very little we can do to assist until Monday or Tuesday. That is the fear: that when we go into those areas, we are going to find persons in serious distress and even fatalities,” Russell told the BBC. “The destructive force of a 25ft surge: that is our greatest concern. It can really cause catastrophic results.”
A state of emergency was declared on the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where four people have been confirmed dead. In an emotional audio message to islanders , the governor, Gus Jaspert, declared himself “heartbroken” at reports of casualties and fatalities.
Simon Cross a BVI resident whose building suffered structural damage, said his family had huddled in a basement as windows were broken and wind threatened to tear off the roof. During the temporary calm at the “eye” of the storm, they quickly rushed out to nail timber over skylights to prevent the wind getting underneath the roof. “We just about managed to frantically do that before the second wave came,” he told the BBC. The wind was “scary and ferocious enough” for them to seek safety in a basement bathroom. “The wind was like nothing I’ve ever known. It was absolutely crazy.”
More than 8,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) staff have been deployed in Florida as it anticipates similar levels of destruction. Fema’s chief, Brock Long, said those in low-lying areas who had been told to evacuate “need to get out and heed the warning”. Parts of Florida would be without power for days and more than 100,000 people may need shelter, he said.
Roads were clogged, hotel rooms full and fuel was running low as the exodus continued.
President Donald Trump, whose waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach was evacuated, wrote on Twitter: “Hurricane Irma is of epic proportion, perhaps bigger than we have ever seen. Be safe and get out of it’s way, if possible.”
Erik Petersen, 40, a dual American-British citizen living in Fort Lauderdale, said: “People aren’t just talking about this as a hurricane, they’re talking about it as the hurricane.” He, his wife Jo, 36, and their six-year-old daughter were staying put. “I’d rather face this thing in a house in Fort Lauderdale than in a car in a traffic jam somewhere outside Orlando.”
A clear-up operation was beginning on St Martin, which is divided between its northern French side, called St-Martin, and its southern, Dutch side, Sint Maarten. At least nine died on the French side and two on the Dutch, officials said.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said the airport runway in Sint Maarten had been cleared and aid flights had arrived. “Many inhabitants are devoid of basic necessities. We need to hurry because the next hurricane is coming,” he said. There was a serious problem of looting, he added.
A Belgian tourist, Flaming Maarten, described the island as a “war zone … Everyone was prepared for the hurricane’s arrival but no one had expected such an impact,” he told the Dutch Red Cross. He fled to a friend’s house after the one he was staying in was completely destroyed. “The streets are full of debris and trees.”
Rene Lepine who lives on the French side of the island, described the storm as “the most terrifying experience of my life, to put it mildly … This thing was of epic proportions and it was just totally overwhelming,” he told the Canadian Press.
As the wind ripped off the roof of his house, he took shelter at his brother-in-law’s, which was surrounded by cliffs. “That’s what actually saved us. We were under the wind and we survived in here.”
The big concern was that the island’s main supply chain in Miami would also get pounded and that Jose could hit Saint Martin on Saturday, he said.
- This article was amended on 9 September 2017 to correct the name of Hurricane Katia.