Hurricane Irma is most powerful ever in Atlantic as it hits Caribbean islands

[turbinetree]

Source: The Guardian

The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history bore down on the islands of the north-east Caribbean on Tuesday night local time, following a path predicted to then rake Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend.

At the far north-eastern edge of the Caribbean, authorities on the Leeward Islands of Antigua and Barbuda cut power and urged residents to shelter indoors as they braced for Hurricane Irma’s first contact with land early on Wednesday.

Officials warned people to seek protection from Irma’s “onslaught” in a statement that closed with: “May God protect us all.”

The category 5 storm had maximum sustained winds of 185 miles (295km) per hour by early Tuesday evening, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/06/hurricane-irma-most-powerful-atlantic-caribbean-islands

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To all of those twits that think that this isn't climate change---------------------

[Warpy]

1. There's one video out of Barbados that looks really hairy

with big limbs being ripped off trees and flying through the air. Look under "Irma Barbuda" on You Tube, it's been posted here before.

[QED]

3. I posted that here and was told it was an old video

so I deleted my thread. It was frightening to see the trees fly through the air whenever that was.

[Warpy]

5. Tree branches, mostly

A strong gale will do that to deciduous trees and the video has been posted about 10 times there, so I'm not so sure it's an old one. It looks about right for having a Cat. 5 hurricane about 4 hours from landfall.

I posted a video of Camille and how the coast for about 3 miles was simply erased. That's what a Category 5 is like when it hits. Anyone living within 3 miles of the coast needs to go inland to a reinforced concrete building.

[LeftInTX]

2. It is only the 5th most powerful...it is the most powerful east of the Caribbean

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/category-5-irma-5th-strongest-atlantic-hurricane-record

[Purveyor]

4. This is not true but makes for a good headline as it should alarm people. eom