JUDY WOODRUFF:

In the day's other major story, Hurricane Irma is now the most powerful storm ever recorded in the open Atlantic Ocean;. It has winds of 185 miles an hour, and it's closing in on the Northeast Caribbean. That has one forecaster warning that the Leeward Islands are going to get destroyed.

Ed Rappaport is the acting director of the National Hurricane Center. And he joins me from Miami.

Ed Rappaport, the strongest storm ever in the Atlantic, what is known about Irma right now?