SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Wielding the most powerful winds ever recorded for a storm in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Irma bore down on Tuesday on the Leeward Islands of the northeast Caribbean on a forecast path that could take it toward Florida over the weekend.

The storm, a dangerous Category 5, posed an immediate threat to the small islands of the northern Leewards, including Antigua and Barbuda, as well as the British and US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

"The Leeward Islands are going to get destroyed," warned Colorado State University meteorology professor Phil Klotzbach, a noted hurricane expert. "I just pray that this thing wobbles and misses them. This is a serious storm."

Irma had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph in late afternoon as it approached the Caribbean from the east, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Four other storms have had winds that strong in the overall Atlantic region but they were in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, which are usually home to warmer waters that fuel cyclones. Hurricane Allen hit 190 mph in 1980, while 2005's Wilma, 1988's Gilbert and a 1935 great Florida Key storm all had 185 mph winds.

Irma is so strong because of the unusually warm waters for that part of the Atlantic.

Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 60 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 175 miles.

The center of Irma was about 130 miles east of Antigua and about 135 miles east-southeast of Barbuda, prompting an ominous warning from officials as the airport closed.

People in the two-island nation should seek protection from Irma's "onslaught", officials warned in a statement, closing with: "May God protect us all."

Authorities on the low-lying British island territory of Anguilla converted three churches and a school into shelters as they prepared for a big storm surge and the full brunt of the winds.

"People normally go to friends and family during a storm. We'll see," said Melissa Meade, director of the Disaster Management Department. "We'll find out soon enough."

The storm was moving west at 15 mph and the hurricane center said there was a growing possibility its effects could be felt in Florida later this week and over the weekend.

Ap

(China Daily USA?09/06/2017 page2)