POND ISLAND--Prime Minister William Marlin is urging residents to review their hurricane emergency preparedness plans and check hurricane shutters and roofing to make sure all are okay in the event an advisory to take action is issued in relation to Hurricane Irma. At this point, the hurricane does not pose a threat to the country.
The Meteorological Department, the Office of Disaster Management and Fire Department are closely monitoring the hurricane system’s progress and will issue advisories when those are required, he said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
The centre of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 17.3 North longitude 34.8 West, or about 1,780 miles (2,865 kilometres) East of the Eastern Caribbean, at 5:00pm Thursday, moving West-Northwest (290 degrees) near 12mph (19km/h). This motion is expected to continue today, Friday, followed by a Westward turn on Saturday and a West-Southwest motion by Sunday.
Maximum sustained winds had increased to near 115 mph (185 km/h) with higher gusts, making Irma a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Fluctuations in strength, both up and down, are possible, but Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane for several days.
Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds up to 80 miles (130 km). The estimated minimum central pressure was 967 millibars (28.56 inches).
