By the Caribbean Journal staff

Hurricane Irma was moving near the north coast of Cuba on Saturday evening, heading toward the Florida Keys, according to the latest projections from the NOAA.

The storm was pounding the north coast of Cuba, leading officials to evacuate even parts of Havana near the Malecon.

A number of smaller beach towns on the north coast were hammered with wind, rain and storm surge.

The storm’s eye was about 110 miles southeast of Key West on Saturday evening, and about 30 miles east-northeast of Varadero, Cuba’s popular beach destination.

While the storm had weakened from a Category 5 down to a Category 3 storm, it was forecast to restrengthen when it moved away from Cuba and approached Florida.

Caribbean territories still under hurricane warning included the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, Matanzas, and Havana, along with the Bahamian islands of Andros, Bimini and Grand Bahama.

The rest of the Bahamas has been given an “all clear” by the Bahamas Department of Meteorology, however.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean’s busiest airport has reopened following Hurricane Irma.

Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan is operating again, a major boost for the region given its position as the busiest airport in the Caribbean by annual passenger volume.

Airport officials said there was no damage to the airport’s infrastructure due to Irma, and even on Thursday the airport was in position to restart air operations.

“We expect airlines to activate their operations according to their protocols,” the airport said in a statement.

Of course, there will not be any flights from Florida to Puerto Rico, given that the state is still in the direct path of Irma.

San Juan will be increasingly important for the Caribbean with its role as a regional hub, given the devastation at St Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport and the uncertain timeframe for that airport’s recovery.

Indeed, Caribbean regional airline Seaborne, which is based at Luis Munoz Marin, is launching its “Seaborne Cares” program to establish relief flights across the Caribbean, including in the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua and St Maarten.

“We will be collecting supplies of water, canned food, medicines and first aid kits. We will work with appropriate authorities to distribute in the stations affected as our flight loads permit,” the airline said in a statement.

The airport will boost Puerto Rico’s crucial tourism sector, which has largely returned to “business as usual,” according to Clarisa Jimenez, President and CEO of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association.

Overall, the island is beginning to recover from what was effectively a “side swipe” but not a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, with electrical operations and telecommunications slowly improving.

Service as the island’s Rafael Hernández Airport has also been reestablished, and most tourism activity in both hotels and attractions are up and running, she said.

The Caribe Hilton hotel on Saturday.

“Our heartfelt thanks to all who kept us in their thoughts and prayers. As of today, most of the essentials services in the Island are fully operational,” Jimenez stated. “On the tourism side, the infrastructure such as hotels, attractions, and restaurants, among others, are already working with power generators, or the system has been restored. Government agencies are working hand in hand with the private sector to complete a general situation assessment.”

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Above: the path of Hurricane Jose

By the Caribbean Journal staff

As Hurricane Irma made landfall in Cuba and headed to Florida, another hurricane got closer to the Caribbean on Friday: Hurricane Jose.

Hurricane Jose was about 265 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands on late Friday evening, with a hurricane warning in effect for Barbuda, Anguilla, St Maarten, St Martin and St Barth.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Antigua, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Antigua, Saba and St Eustatius.

Jose is currently a category 4 hurricane, with winds near 155 miles per hour with higher gusts.

A potential positive? The storm is tracking to blow north into the Atlantic, but it’s still not clear how much damage it could inflict on an area already seriously reeling from Irma.

The current path of Irma.

As for Irma, while it was tracking to Florida and Cuba, it still threatened parts of the Bahamas, with a hurricane warning still in effect for the Central Bahamas and Ragged Island along with the Northwestern Bahamas.

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Caribbean Airlines is now offering rebooking fee waivers to travelers whose plans have been affected by Hurricane Irma.

Travelers who have confirmed tickets for the period between Sept. 5 and Oct. 31 can now rebook without change fees.

The carrier is also offering full refunds on fares paid for travel up to Oct. 31.

The waivers apply to travel to or from Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Antigua, St Maarten and Nassau.

— Caribbean Journal staff

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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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