Hurricane Irma Pounds Over Puerto Rico Leaving A Million Without Power

The eye of Hurricane Irma never made landfall in Puerto Rico, however the catastrophic winds of 185 miles mph left much devastation. Irma, which is has not slowed its course and is still category 5 hurricane, left more than 1 million people in Puerto Rico without power. This image below shows the eye of the hurricane just north of San Juan.

San Juan is having a really close brush with Irma's secondary eyewall right now. This is the peak of the storm for Puerto Rico. pic.twitter.com/M8GYWdVfYE

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 6, 2017

Hundreds of people evacuated their homes and went to a nearby shelter at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. Retired medical professional, Carmen Caballero, 69, told The New York Times that she was planning to ride out the storm in her house but then decided to leave because all of her neighbors did.

“All my neighbors left too,” she said over the phone from there. “I wasn’t going to stay alone in my house!“

According to NBC News, while millions are without power, Ricardo Ramos, chief executive of the island’s electric utility, said more than 56,000 people were without potable water.

Several people in Puerto Rico that lived through Hurricane Hugo, said that Hurricane Irma, while extremely intense, but did not compare to the hurricane that hit in 1989.

San Juan resident Charlyn Gaztambide Janer, told NBC News that “this is a lot better than it was predicted to be,” and added, “I lived through Hurricane Hugo [in 1989] and that was far, far worse. That was horrible. This is nothing compared to that.”

Nearly 900,000 people are now without power in Puerto Rico as Hurricane Irma plows through the Caribbean: pic.twitter.com/6iBSnkYhIs

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 7, 2017

The good news is that the eye of the hurricane also went north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti early this morning, as it did in Puerto Rico. The bad news is the hurricane will make landfall in Florida on Sunday morning.

ABC News reports that there are mandatory evacuations in two Florida counties so far. Those include Monroe County and Miami-Dade County’s Zones A and B. There’s also voluntary evacuations in Broward and Collier counties. Florida Gov. Rick Scott said more evacuations are expected as the hurricane gets closer.