(Video courtesy Rose dela Cruz, Eagle News Service)
(Reuters) — Hurricane Irma left a wake of damage on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday (September 7) as the “extremely dangerous” storm swept through the Caribbean with 175 mph winds.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said Irma remains an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm as it takes aim at the Turks and Caicos islands and Florida where it is expected to land as a powerful Category 4 on Sunday.
Irma was packing maximum sustained winds of up to 185 mph (295 kph) as it followed a projected path that would see it hit the northern edges of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, continuing past eastern Cuba before veering north for Florida. / AFP PHOTO / Erika SANTELICES
The storm passed just to the north of the Hispaniola island shared by Dominican Republic and Haiti, causing some damage to roofs and flooding as it approached the impoverished Haitian side of the island, which is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and rain, although it was not forecast to make landfall.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic ordered evacuations in towns along the northern Atlantic coast such as Cabarete, a thriving tourist spot where trees were brought down by high winds but no severe damage was reported.