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 / HECTOR RETAMAL
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Irma has been downgraded to a Category Four hurricane but is still extremely dangerous, the National Hurricane Center said on Friday.
The storm raging in the Caribbean which is en route to Florida is now packing maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (250 kilometres per hour), the agency said its 0900 GMT update.
That is down from speeds of 185 mph when Irma was at its peak as a Category Five hurricane.
Hurricane damage in Caribbean – more than 200M euros
Meanwhile, damage caused by Hurricane Irma on French islands in the Caribbean is estimated to be “much higher” than 200 million euros ($240 million), a state insurance group said on Friday.
Bertrand Labilloy, head of the Caisse Centrale de Reassurance (CCR) which specializes in natural disasters, said hurricanes typically caused around 100-200 million euros worth of damage on the French islands.
“But Irma is much more powerful… so you should expect the figure to be much higher than this,” he told the CNews channel.
© Agence France-Presse