'May God protect us all': Puerto Rico, tiny islands in Irma's path fear for the worst
Source: The Washington Post
By Andrew deGrandpre, Lindsey Bever and Amy B Wang September 6 at 8:23 AM
In Puerto Rico, some residents are preparing to be without electricity for between four and six months. In St. Thomas, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, people are praying their roofs hold.
Throughout these American territories and on other Caribbean islands in Hurricane Irma's path, there was widespread fear Tuesday night and early Wednesday, even in the face of preemptive emergency declarations, that this ferocious and possibly historic Category 5 storm will bring with it a devastating storm surge, destructive winds and dangerous flooding and lead to a long, painstaking journey back to normalcy.
Overnight, Irma hit the Leeward Islands, a band of territories and commonwealths stretching southeast from Puerto Rico. As it swept across Barbuda, a weather station recorded sustained winds of 118 mph and a wind gust to 155 mph before the instrument failed, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Irma's 185 mph maximum sustained winds are the strongest recorded for a landfalling hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, tied with the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane, the Capital Weather Gang reported.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/09/05/may-god-protect-us-all-the-tiny-islands-in-irmas-path-brace-for-the-worst/?utm_term=.ecac53bd286c&wpisrc=nl_az_most&wpmk=1
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