Hurricane Irma killed eight people on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and left Barbuda devastated on Thursday as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century took aim at Florida.
TV footage of the Franco-Dutch island of Saint Martin showed a damaged marina with boats tossed into piles Ozzie Smith Cardinals Jersey , submerged streets and flooded homes. Power was knocked out on Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy and in parts of the US territory of Puerto Rico.
"It is an enormous disaster, 95 percent of the island is destroyed. I am in shock," Daniel Gibbs Orlando Cepeda Cardinals Jersey , chairman of a local council on Saint Martin, told Radio Caribbean International.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said eight people were killed and the toll was likely to rise.
"We did not have the time yet to explore all the shores," Collomb told Franceinfo radio, adding that 23 people were also injured. In all Mike Shannon Cardinals Jersey , at least 10 people were reported killed by Irma on four islands.
Irma caused "enormous damage" to the Dutch side of Saint Martin, called Sint Maarten, the Dutch Royal Navy said. The navy tweeted images gathered by helicopter of damaged houses, hotels and boats. The airport was unreachable Mike Matheny Cardinals Jersey , it said.
The hurricane was on track to reach Florida on Saturday or Sunday.
The eye of Irma was moving west-northwest off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The island of Barbuda is a scene of "total carnage" and the tiny two-island nation will seek international assistance, said Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
Browne told the BBC about half of Barbuda's population of some 1 Michael Wacha Cardinals Jersey ,800 were homeless while nine out of 10 buildings had suffered some damage and many were destroyed.
"We flew into Barbuda only to see total carnage. It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences that I have had," Browne said in an interview on BBC Radio Four.
"Approximately 50 percent of them [residents of Barbuda] are literally homeless at this time," he said, adding that it would take months or years to restore some level of normalcy to the island.
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