Hurricane Irma: Two Dead As Hurricane Devastates Caribbean

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it has received complaints about price gouging from areas near hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Authorities in Florida issued emergency warnings on Tuesday, with officials in Georgia and SC following suit for their states’ coastal areas after forecasts showed Irma veering northward. Nearly 16 million people across 10 countries, states and territories are in the path of the storm, according to the US Census Bureau.

In Puerto Rico, Governor Ricardo Rossello pleaded for the island’s 3.4 million population to head to hundreds of hurricane shelters in advance of the storm and he ordered National Guard troops to clear people from low-lying areas amidst fears that the USA territory could be without power for weeks or months. It could arrive in South Florida this weekend as a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

The storm damaged or destroyed as much as 95% of homes on the small island of Barbuda, crippled its airport runway and broke a cellular tower in two, complicating relief efforts, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said on national television.

Hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the hurricane, and numerous islands hit are now without power, according to Lionel Hurst, who is the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda’s chief of staff.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Robert De Niro, who is a principal in the Paradise Found Nobu Resort alongside media mogul James Packer in Barbuda, said he will help the island rebuild.

“With this hurricane, the eye won’t travel over Puerto Rico, so the services shouldn’t be affected at that magnitude”, Garcia said.

But the AEE director has previously said that if Hurricane Irma were to hit the island directly, some residents should expect to be without power for four to six months. A mandatory evacuation for Keys visitors was underway Wednesday, with residents being told to leave the next day.

The latest advisories and track maps for Hurricanes Irma, Katia and Jose are available on the NOAA National Hurricane Centre website. The Mexican state of Veracruz has a hurricane watch in effect and the storm is now about 185 miles North-Northwest of Veracruz.

The storm blasted Barbuda, an island of 1,600, with gusts of 155mph early Wednesday morning.

Is it unusual to have two strong storms back to back?