Hurricane Irma is continuing to tear a deadly path through the Caribbean as the scale of devastation in its wake begins to emerge.
The historic storm destroyed nearly all buildings on the island of Barbuda yesterday, killing a two-year-old child as a family tried to escape, before wreaking havoc on the French territories of St Martin and St Barts, leaving at least seven dead.
A massive operation is underway to evacuate people away from coastal areas on Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where aid workers are moving residents into temporary shelters before the storm hits.
This morning Irma's eye was just north of the coast of Puerto Rico, lashing the island with heavy rain and high winds and leaving more than 900,000 people without power.
There were fears that the eye could come within 35 miles of the capital San Juan, bringing gusts of up to 100mph.
Irma is moving at around 16mph on a course forecast to take it toward the Bahamas and the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
An alert sent by the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies on Grand Turk urged residents near the coasts to take shelter on higher ground, warning the storm surge could raise water levels by seven metres above the normal tide.
Some US government personnel have been ordered to leave the Bahamas before the hurricane's arrival, expected tonight.
On the US mainland authorities fear the hurricane may slam into the Florida peninsula over the weekend, just days after storm Harvey devastated Texas.
NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS TO BE SHUT DOWN
Officials are making preparations to potentially shut down two nuclear power stations in the Sunshine State, while evacuation orders have been given in the Florida Keys.
Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach could be affected by the storm, said his administration is monitoring Irma closely.
"It looks like it could be something that could be not good, believe me not good," the US president said.
With sustained winds of 185mph, the category five hurricane is the most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane on record.
It is only the second time anywhere in the world a storm has been recorded maintaining such windspeeds for more than 24 hours, after typhoon Haiyan in 2013, according to an expert at the University of Colorado.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the Associated Press that nearly every building on Barbuda was damaged when the hurricane passed overhead, leaving around 60% of the island's approximately 1,400 people homeless.
Barbuda had been left "barely habitable", he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he expects that victims and heavy damage will be discovered on islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, known as St Barts.
Briton Alex Woolfall hid in a concrete stairwell as the hurricane hit while he was on holiday in St Maarten, the Dutch area of the island.
He tweeted: "My god this noise! It's like standing behind a jet engine! Constant booms & bangs. At least concrete stairwell not moving."
Anguilla's tourist board said its major resorts had survived the storm, although many private homes had been damaged. There were no reports of any deaths.