Hurricane Irma, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean, has hit the Caribbean islands.

The category five storm is working its way from the island of Barbuda towards Puerto Rico, bringing with it strong winds and heavy rain. It’s proving so strong that it is even being picked up by seismometers, which normally only measure earthquakes. 

Many islands are on high alert, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos and Cuba. Florida in the United States of America, has also declared a state of emergency. Some British tourists have already been evacuated from the area. 

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) says Hurricane Irma could be “potentially catastrophic.”

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