Monster Hurricane Irma — packing fierce, 185-mph winds — made landfall in the northeast Caribbean early Wednesday, slamming into Barbuda and Antigua as it headed for Puerto Rico with Florida in its sights.
The eye of the most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history passed over Barbuda around 1:47 a.m., the US National Weather Service said.
Irma ripped the roof off the island’s police station, forcing officers to seek refuge in the nearby fire station and at the community center that served as an official shelter.
The Category 5 storm had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The most dangerous winds were forecast to pass near the northern Virgin Islands and near or just north of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
“I hear it’s a Cat 5 now and I’m terrified,” Antigua resident Carol Joseph said Tuesday as she finished her last trip to the supermarket before seeking shelter. “I had to come back for more batteries because I don’t know how long the current will be off.”
President Trump declared emergencies in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and authorities in the Bahamas said they would evacuate six southern islands.
“Watching Hurricane closely. My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary!” Trump tweeted shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday.
“Hurricane looks like largest ever recorded in the Atlantic!” he added in a separate tweet.
The northern Leeward Islands were expected to see normal tide levels rise by as much as 11 feet, while the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas could experience surges of 20 feet and higher waves later in the week, forecasters said.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said six islands in the south would be evacuated because authorities would not be able to help people caught in the “potentially catastrophic” storm.
“The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life or serious physical harm,” Minnis said.
The National Weather Service said Puerto Rico had not seen a hurricane of Irma’s power since Hurricane San Felipe in 1928, which killed a total of 2,748 people in Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Florida.
“The dangerousness of this event is like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. “A lot of infrastructure won’t be able to withstand this kind of force.”
The eye of the storm was expected to sweep westward on a path taking it a little north of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.
Among those already impacted by the storm was Pope Francis, whose Alitalia plane carrying him to Colombia was forced to change its flight plan to avoid a run-in with Irma.
“Because of a hurricane, the Holy Father’s flight will take a more southern route and will enter the airspaces of three other countries,” Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported.
Florida also is bracing for what appears to be an inevitable hit by Irma — most likely along the Keys at first.
“You’d be hard pressed to find any model that doesn’t have some impact on Florida,” said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.
Keys officials expected to announce a mandatory evacuation Wednesday for visitors, with residents being told to leave Thursday.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who plans to fly to the Keys on Wednesday, said a hospital in the island chain would have its patients evacuated by air.
“This is not one to fool around with,” said Cammy Clark, spokeswoman for Monroe County, which contains the Keys.
Scott, who activated the National Guard across the state, on Monday declared a state of emergency in all of Florida’s 67 counties to give local governments “ample time, resources and flexibility” to prepare for the storm.
Scott conceded that Irma’s uncertain path was making it difficult for officials to tell Floridians where they should go. Some models have it slashing up the East Coast, while others have it veering through the middle of the peninsula.
“This storm has the potential to devastate this state, and you have to take this seriously,” Scott said Tuesday from the state’s emergency operations center in Tallahassee, the state capital. “Remember: We can rebuild your home; we cannot rebuild your life.”
Trump approved a federal emergency declaration for the state ahead of the storm, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said people should be prepared to evacuate Miami Beach and most coastal areas.
He said the voluntary evacuations could begin as soon as Wednesday evening. He activated the emergency operation center and urged residents to have three days’ worth of food and water.
The last major storm to hit Florida was 2005’s Wilma, its eye cutting through the state’s southern third as it packed winds of 120 mph. Five people died.
Also Wednesday morning, a new tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico off Mexico’s coast.
Tropical Storm Katia had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph with some strengthening forecast over the next two days. But the hurricane center said Katia was expected to stay offshore through Friday morning.
And another tropical storm farther east in the Atlantic was expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday night.
Tropical Storm Jose’s maximum sustained winds had increased to near 60 mph. The storm was cetered about 1,255 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and was moving west at about 13 mph.
Four other storms have had winds as strong as Irma in the overall Atlantic region, but they were in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, which usually have warmer waters.
Hurricane Allen hit 190 mph in 1980, while 2005’s Wilma, 1988’s Gilbert and a 1935 great Florida Keys storm all had 185-mph winds.
With Post wires