Hurricane Irma left the Caribbean island of Barbuda completely cut off from the outside world
The tiny island of Barbuda, part of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, has been without connection to the outside world since Hurricane Irma knocked out its communications early Wednesday morning, CNN reports. Infrastructure on the island is "so badly damaged that there is no communication," Keithley Meade, the director of a meteorological office in Antigua and Barbuda, told CNN.
Approximately 1,600 people call Barbuda home.
Barbuda was the first major island in the Caribbean to face Irma, which is a Category 5 storm. Barbuda was so directly hit that at one point the entire island fit in the eye of the storm:
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In a statement, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said there have been no reports of fatalities on the island.
Early photos and videos are already trickling in from around the Caribbean, with Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, and Florida still in the storm's path. See footage from Hurricane Irma here.
