Officials across the northeastern Caribbean canceled airline flights, shuttered schools and urged people to hunker down indoors as Hurricane Irma barreled toward the region as a powerful Category 4 storm expected to strengthen more before nearing land late today.
States of emergency were declared in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and all of Florida while people on various Caribbean islands boarded up homes and rushed to find last- minute supplies, forming long lines outside supermarkets and gas stations.
Irma's maximum sustained winds increased to near 240 kph early today, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was centered about 515 kilometer east of the Leeward Islands and moving west at 22 kph.
Authorities warned that the storm could dump up to 25 centimeters of rain, cause landslides and dangerous flash floods and generate waves of up to 7 meters.
"This is not an opportunity to go outside and try to have fun with a hurricane," U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp warned. "It's not time to get on a surfboard."
The storm's center was expected to move near or over the northern Leeward Islands late today and early tomorrow, the hurricane center said.
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