Hurricane Irma has hit the Turks and Caicos Islands as the category 5 storm, which has killed at least 18 people, continues to move across the Caribbean towards Florida.

Waves as high as 6 metres (20ft) were expected on Friday in the Turks and Caicos, where communications went down as the storm hit the islands, leaving the extent of the devastation unclear.

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The first hurricane warnings were issued for parts of southern Florida as the US state braced for Irma, while some of those islands hit hardest by the storm prepared for Hurricane Jose, a category 3 storm following in Irma’s wake with 120mph (195km/h) winds.

French, British and Dutch military authorities sent aid to devastated Caribbean islands where at least 18 people were dead and thousands left homeless. Warships and planes were sent with food, water and troops after the hurricane smashed homes, schools and roads, laying waste to some of the world’s most beautiful tourist destinations.

Nine people have died, seven are missing and 112 injured on the French islands of St Martin and St Barts, the French interior minister, Gérard Collomb, said.

Homes on St Martin were splintered and road signs scattered by the strong winds, while cafes and shops in the seaside town of Marigot were submerged in flood water. Rescue teams had yet to cover the entire area of damage, meaning the death toll could rise.



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The US consulate general in Curacao said it believed about 6,000 Americans were stranded on St Martin. It said it was working with the US and other governments to try to figure out how to get them off the island either by air or boat.

At least four people were killed in the US Virgin Islands, and officials said they expected to find more bodies. Authorities described the damage as catastrophic and said crews were struggling to reopen roads and restore power.

Three more deaths were reported on the British island of Anguilla, as well as Barbuda and the Dutch side of St Martin, known as Sint Maarten.

Play Video 1:48 Hurricane Irma's path of destruction - video report

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said the storm “caused wide-scale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses. There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are underwater, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world.”

The hurricane was passing just north of Great Inagua early on Friday after striking Haiti and Dominican Republic with high winds and rain.

Large waves smashed homes into rubble in the Dominican fishing community of Nagua, but work crews said all residents had left before the storm. Officials said 11,200 people had evacuated vulnerable areas, while 55,000 soldiers had been deployed to help clean up.

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In Haiti, two people were injured by a falling tree and a highway was blocked but there were no immediate reports of deaths. Officials said that could change as Irma continued to lash the country, where deforested hillsides are prone to mudslides that have wiped out entire neighbourhoods in flood zones.

US forecasters said Irma could hit not only the entire length of Florida’s Atlantic coast, but move into Georgia and South Carolina. More than half a million people in Miami-Dade County were ordered to leave as Irma closed in with winds of 160mph (260km/h).

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said US officials were preparing a massive response. “Hurricane Irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the United States in either Florida or some of the southeastern states,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said at a news briefing.

The Florida governor, Rick Scott, said: “It is wider than our entire state and could cause major and life-threatening impacts from coast to coast. Regardless of which coast you live on, be prepared to evacuate.”

Two Dutch navy ships were in Sint Maarten with essential supplies. And two Dutch military aircraft were being sent to Curacao and on to Sint Maarten to deliver food and water intended to last the 40,000-strong population five days. The aircraft were carrying 100 extra troops to deliver aid and repair infrastructure.



Britain was sending hundreds of troops and the Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean to Anguilla, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands.

In Anguilla, officials reported extensive damage to the airport, hospitals, shelters and schools and said 90% of roads were impassable.

On Barbuda, nearly every building was damaged when the hurricane’s core crossed almost directly over the island early on Wednesday. About 60% of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, said the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister, Gaston Browne.

Roads and telecommunications systems were wrecked and recovery would take months, if not years, he said. “It is just really a horrendous situation.”