Monster Hurricane Irma batters Caribbean islands

Yahoo – AFP, Laurent Czerniejewski with Cécile Azzaro in Paris, 6 September 2017

This satellite image obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) shows Hurricane Irma at 1145 UTC on September 6, 2017

Monster Hurricane Irma slammed into Caribbean islands on Wednesday after making landfall in Barbuda, packing ferocious winds and causing major flooding in low-lying areas.

As the rare Category Five storm barreled its way across the Caribbean, it brought gusting winds of up to 185 miles per hour (294 kilometers per hour), weather experts said.

After making landfall just before 0600 GMT in Barbuda, part of the twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, the hurricane swept on to French-run Saint Barthelemy, also known as St Barts, and Saint Martin, an island divided between France and the Netherlands.

Hurricane Irma has already caused "major damage" on several Caribbean islands, said French Overseas Territories Minister Annick Girardin, who announced she was leaving for the island of Guadeloupe on Wednesday.

The French weather office said Irma was "a historic hurricane (with) an unprecedented intensity over the Atlantic," with a French minister saying it had already "caused major damage" across St Barts and Saint Martin.

'Very scary'

Coastal areas were being "battered extremely violently" by the sea, with the weather office logging winds of 244 kph (151 mph) before its monitoring equipment was destroyed by the hurricane.

With the islands on maximum alert ahead of the arrival of the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, France had raised the alarm over the fate of some 7,000 people who refused to seek shelter.

Dutch national broadcaster NOS also reported "enormous damage" on Saint Martin, with residents speaking of widespread destruction.

Saba Island and St Eustatius, two other Dutch-run territories to the south, were also hit.

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Barbuda but is making its way north west towards

 the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico

'I'm just praying'

The massive hurricane, which is beating a path northwest, was also expected to hit the larger French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

With forecasters warning of catastrophe, including surges of up to 25 feet (7.6 metres) above normal tide levels, people evacuated tourist areas, stocked up on provisions, and packed into shelters across an area stretching as far north as Florida.

Irma, which is expected to stay in the region for days, follows hot on the heels of Hurricane Harvey which devastated swathes of Texas in late August.

Packed into shelters, many frightened residents were calling in to local radio stations to voice their concerns.

"I am just praying to God. Everything happens for a reason," said a woman called Kazia living on Antigua, where people were hunkering down in the dark after officials turned off the island's power supply as a safety precaution.

In mid-afternoon winds speeds there were logged at up to 90 mph.

Shelters packed

Category Five is the highest on the scale for hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and Irma is expected to reach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by nightfall Wednesday.

Hurricanes of this category are rare. They can tear off roofing, shatter windows, uproot palm trees and turn them into deadly projectiles.

Map showing the forecast track of Hurricane Irma across the Caribbean

In Guadeloupe, schools and government offices in have been closed while hospitals stocked up on medicines, food and drinking water.

Across the island, shelters were packed with a mixture of local families and tourists.

"We came here to protect our little two-year-old boy," said Ludovic, a tourist who only gave his first name. "We hadn't prepared for this disaster scenario."

Florida is expecting to face the brunt of the storm from Friday night.

As the hurricane approached, US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, authorising federal funding to help local authorities respond.

"My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary!" he tweeted.

The Washington Post reported that Trump's luxury property on Saint Martin had been badly hit, without giving details.

Meanwhile British billionaire Richard Branson said he would be hunkering down in his concrete wine cellar to face Hurricane Irma as it hurtles closer to his private island of Necker in the British Virgin Islands.

Threat to Puerto Rico, Florida

Florida Governor Rick Scott said Irma, which comes barely a week after Harvey claimed at least 42 lives, posed "a severe threat to the entire state".

Tourists in the popular Key West islands were packing their bags on a mandatory evacuation order and were to begin leaving at sunrise on Wednesday, with a similar order for residents due to follow.

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Cyclones and climate change: connecting the dots

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”