Irma Heads Toward Bahamas, Cuba

 

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Hurricane Irma continues to move to the northwest as a Category 5 storm.

The storm moved from the island of Hispaniola to the Turks and Caicos before heading toward the southeastern Bahamas early Friday morning.

As of 11 PM on Thursday, the storm was about 55 miles east-northeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas.

Irma pummeled Turks and Caicos after causing an undetermined amount of damage and flooding in Haiti, with the brunt of the damage focused in Grand Turk.

The core of the hurricane is then projected to move between the north coast of Cuba and the Bahamas during the next day or two.

Hurricane warnings remained in effect for Haiti from the northern border with the Dominican Republic to Le Moin st Nicholas, the Southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Central Bahamas, the Northwestern Bahamas and the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara.

Irma’s maximum sustained winds slowed slightly, down from a peak of 185 mph to 165 mph with higher gusts, though it remained a Category 5 hurricane.

“Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days,” the NOAA said in a statement.

The Caribbean death toll from the storm has risen to at least 14 people.

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