Early images out of Hurricane Irma show devastation of Caribbean islands

Hurricane Irma strikes Saint Martin.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/RCI Guadeloupe)

As Hurricane Irma continues to move toward Florida with catastrophic force, it first paved a path over the small Caribbean islands of St. Martin, Anguilla, and St. Barts after making landfall on Barbuda around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

A Category 5 storm, Irma is clocking winds of up to 185 miles per hour, wreaking havoc on the island communities. Early footage, mostly taken during the hurricane's eye, shows the devastation:

The storm is expected to cross Puerto Rico on Wednesday, then edge past Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba before making landfall in Florida on Sunday:

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Watch more videos out of Irma, collected by Radio Caraibes International Guadeloupe, here.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.