Update | Monster Hurricane Irma lays waste to the Caribbean, leaving thousands homeless and triggering enormous aid effort
The most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded is now heading for Florida, after killing 11 people in the Caribbean
French, British and Dutch military authorities rushed aid to a devastated string of Caribbean islands Thursday after Hurricane Irma left at least 11 people dead and thousands homeless as it spun toward Florida for what could be a catastrophic blow this weekend.
Warships and planes were dispatched with food, water and troops after the fearsome Category 5 storm smashed homes, schools and roads, laying waste to some of the world’s most beautiful and exclusive tourist destinations.
Hundreds of miles to the west, Florida braced for the onslaught, with forecasters warning that Irma could slam headlong into the Miami metropolitan area of 6 million people, punish the entire length of the state’s Atlantic coast and move into Georgia and South Carolina.
More than a half-million people in Miami-Dade County were ordered to leave as Irma closed in with winds of 280km/h.
The hurricane was still north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday evening, sweeping the neighbouring nations on Hispaniola island with high winds and rain while battering the Turks and Caico islands on its other side.
