Skip to content

Hurricane Irma Makes Landfall

A satellite image of Hurricane Irma spinning violently in the Caribbean. 

© 2017 NOAA

Hurricane Irma gathered steam in the Atlantic before finally making landfall in the Eastern Caribbean early today, threatening thousands of lives and homes, as well as infrastructure, and one of the largest concentrations of sailboats in one of the premier cruising destinations in the world. Irma is currently expected to make landfall in South Florida on Sunday.

With winds up to 185 miles per hour, Irma is the second-strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic. The storm first made landfall in Barbuda which was hit with devastating winds — Barbuda’s sister island, Antigua, which is 20 miles to the south escaped with minor damage, said Latitude founder Richard Spindler, who has a 45-ft catamaran battened down on the island. "Even at Jolly Harbour [on the West side of Antigua], they’re saying they came out pretty well." 

But Irma wreaked havoc in St. Barthelemy and St. Martin, according to the New York Times. There were reports of roofs being torn away, floods and general chaos, though no casualties have yet to be reported. 

The British Virgin Islands — one of the cruising capitals of the world — is currently in Irma’s direct path. The storm is projected to go slightly north of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba, and to the south of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Bahamas.

Stay tuned for updates on Irma as it continues to march toward the US.

CORRECTION: This story originally stated — incorrectly — that the island of Barbuda had not been badly hit.  

Leave a Comment




As flocks of cruisers prepare to head south this fall, their nav stations will be packed with more state-of-the-art electronics than ever before.