Early on Wednesday, Hurricane Irma engulfed the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda and its population of about 1,800 with tornado-force, 185-mph, Category 5 winds and storm surge, destroying measurement instruments and cutting the island off from communication.
After initially surveying the damage, Gaston Browne, prime minister of the dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, said Barbuda was "totally demolished" and that 90% of its buildings were destroyed.
Now Hurricane Jose, a Category 4 storm, is headed for Antigua and Barbuda with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 mph, and local officials are trying to evacuate the entire island of Barbuda in the few hours they have to do so.
—Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 8, 2017
Photos of Irma's damage in Barbuda are just starting to appear — though at least one widely shared video that claimed to show Irma was more than a year old. At least one fatality was confirmed.
But satellites captured the eye of the storm moving over the island.
—Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) September 6, 2017
ABS Television Antigua captured footage of some of the initial damage as well.
In some cases, buildings were flattened.
Browne described the island as "literally a rubble" and said there was no water or phone service there. He told Anderson Cooper that he estimated it would take $100 million to rebuild.
Hurricane Irma caused similar damage on St. Martin, reportedly destroying 95% of structures, and St. Barts, and affected the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as well.
Now the question is what Hurricane Jose may do to these already devastated islands.
