Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, made landfall in the Caribbean at 2:00 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, with the storm’s eye passing over Barbuda with gusts of up to 155 miles per hour, as it roars forward to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and other islands.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, parts of the storm affected Antigua, with media houses on that island bringing live storm coverage overnight. “So far the picture across Antigua is that there’s mostly minor wind damage to structure. In terms of Barbuda, they have had the worst of the storm,” said a reporter with the Antigua Broadcasting Station, during a live video broadcast<\/span><\/a> following N.H.C.’s Wednesday morning advisory. As the center of Hurricane Irma’s eye moved away from Barbuda, the storm was headed towards St. Martin, as that island braces for impact.<\/p>\n According to the National Hurricane Center’s (N.H.C.) 5:00 a.m. advisory,\u00a0the center of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 17.9 North, longitude 62.6 West. Irma is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 mph (26 km\/h), and this general motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days. On the forecast track, the extremely dangerous core of Irma will move over portions of the northern Leeward Islands this morning, move near or over portions of the northern U.S. Virgin Islands later today, and pass near or just north of Puerto Rico this afternoon or tonight. The British Virgin Islands will also see hurricane-force winds, as it appears to be in Irma’s direct path.<\/p>\n