Hurricane Irma, battering Puerto Rico, appears headed toward Miami

Puerto Rico flooded by Hurricane Irma
(Image credit: Jose Jimenez/Getty Images)

Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 monster with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour, was passing just north of Puerto Rico on Wednesday night, the National Hurricane Center said, and Puerto Rican authorities said about half of the island doesn't have power and some 50,000 residents don't have water. Parts of the U.S. territory could be without electricity for four to six months, Puerto Rico's power utility has warned.

Before hitting Puerto Rico, Irma's eye passed over the British Virgin Islands on Wednesday afternoon and raked the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Martin, and other islands, after damaging or demolishing nearly every building on Barbuda. About 60 percent of the island's 1,400 inhabitants are now homeless, the telecommunications structure was destroyed, and a 2-year-old child was killed, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne tells The Associated Press.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.