SAN JUAN,
Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Monster Hurricane Irma slammed across islands in the
northern Caribbean on Wednesday, packing a potentially catastrophic mix of
pounding winds, raging surf and rain en route to a possible Florida landfall
this weekend.
Irma is
expected to become the second powerful storm to thrash the U.S. mainland in as
many weeks but its precise trajectory was uncertain. Hurricane Harvey killed
more than 60 people and caused as much as $180 billion in damage after hitting
Texas late last month.
The eye of
Irma, a Category 5 storm with winds of 185 miles per hour (295 km per hour),
passed over the island of St. Martin, east of the U.S. territory of Puerto
Rico, on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said. Category
5 is its highest category.
In Puerto
Rico’s capital of San Juan, a handful of people stood on the wind-whipped shore
of a beachfront park on Wednesday morning to take a last look at the ocean
before seeking shelter.
“I am
worried. This is going to be a huge storm, bigger than I have ever seen,” said
Angelica Flecha, 45.
She has
stocked her second-floor home with food and water and put metal storm shutters
on the windows, but was worried about a storm surge on the island, which is
under a hurricane warning.
Most businesses
were closed and streets were almost empty. Cars packed parking lots of stores
that were still open, with shoppers stuffing ice and water into their trunks.
Puerto
Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rossello urged the island’s 3.4 million residents to
seek refuge in one of 460 hurricane shelters.
It was not
immediately clear how much damage Irma had done as it swept west.
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