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House overwhelmingly passes $7.9 billion Harvey aid bill

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Spicy braised raddichio and red cabbage a gorgeous dish to accompany roasts

<p>ST. JOHN&#8217;S, Antigua &#8212; Hurricane Irma roared into the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm with record-setting force early Wednesday, shaking people in their homes on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda on a path toward Puerto Rico and possibly Florida over the weekend.</p><p>With maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, Irma is the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded north of the Caribbean and east of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm was almost directly over the island of Barbuda, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.</p><p>Authorities in the small islands of the eastern Caribbean were still evaluating the situation as the sun rose, though there were widespread reports of flooding and downed trees. Antiguan police were waiting until the winds dropped before sending helicopters to check on damage reports of damage in Barbuda. There were no immediate reports of casualties.</p><p>&#8220;We are glad so far for the good news that we have had so far,&#8221; Donald McPhail, executive director of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority, said early Wednesday as he heard from employees throughout the region after hunkering down for the night at home in Antigua.</p><p>The island of Anguilla was experiencing &#8220;extremely heavy winds and rain,&#8221; according to the Disaster Management Department, and there were reports of flooding, but details were not available.</p><p>The center of the storm was about 15 miles west of St. Martin and Anguilla about 8 a.m. Wednesday, the hurricane center said. It was heading west-northwest at 16 mph.</p><p>As the eye of Irma passed over Barbuda at about 2 a.m., phone lines went down under heavy rain and howling winds that sent debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters.</p><p>The Hurricane Center said Irma&#8217;s winds likely would fluctuate slightly, but the storm would remain at Category 4 or 5 strength for the next day or two. The most dangerous winds, usually closest to the eye, were forecast to pass near the northern Virgin Islands and near or just north of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.</p><p>President Donald Trump declared emergencies in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and authorities in the Bahamas said they would evacuate six southern islands.</p><p>The U.S. National Weather Service said Puerto Rico had not seen a hurricane of Irma&#8217;s magnitude since Hurricane San Felipe in 1928, which killed 2,748 people in Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Florida.</p><p>&#8220;The dangerousness of this event is like nothing we&#8217;ve ever seen,&#8221; Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. &#8220;A lot of infrastructure won&#8217;t be able to withstand this kind of force.&#8221;</p><p>The eye of the storm was expected to rip westward on a path a little north of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.</p><p>Weather forecasting models have not pinpointed whether the storm will strike the United States, but it seemed almost certain to hit some part of the East over the weekend.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;d be hard-pressed to find any model that doesn&#8217;t have some impact on Florida.&#8221; said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.</p><p>In that state, people stocked up on drinking water and other supplies.</p><p>Florida Gov. Rick Scott activated 100 members of the Florida National Guard to be deployed across the state, and 7,000 National Guard members were to report for duty Friday, when the storm could be approaching the area. On Monday, Scott declared a state of emergency in all of Florida&#8217;s 67 counties.</p><p>Officials in the Florida Keys geared up to get tourists and residents out of Irma&#8217;s path, and the mayor of Miami-Dade County said people should be prepared to evacuate Miami Beach and most coastal areas.</p><p>Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the voluntary evacuations could begin as soon as Wednesday evening. He activated the emergency operation center and urged residents to have three days&#8217; worth of food and water.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In this image released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hurricane Irma, a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, moves westward in the Atlantic Ocean toward the Leeward Islands. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_irma-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this image released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hurricane Irma, a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, moves westward in the Atlantic Ocean toward the Leeward Islands. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Hurricane Irma slams Caribbean islands as Category 5 storm; Florida in path?