The federal government has issued a slew of travel advisories for areas in the path of Hurricane Irma, a historically powerful storm that made landfall in the Caribbean Wednesday morning.
Canadians are being told to avoid all travel to Guadeloupe, Sint Maarten, Puerto Rico, Saint-Barthemely, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and Antigua and Barbuda.
The government also recommends avoiding non-essential travel to Turks and Caicos. That warning also remains in place for southeast Texas, where cleanup is still underway from Hurricane Harvey.
Additionally, Canadians are being told to exercise a high degree of caution when visiting the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Irma’s sustained wind speed has been clocked at 295 kilometres an hour, making it the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded north of the Caribbean and east of the Gulf of Mexico.
Florida is thought to be potentially in the path of the storm, but no Canadian travel warnings have been issued for that region yet. However, the U.S. government is preparing for the worst.
Irma came ashore with a roar Wednesday morning, hammering Antigua and Barbuda on its way to Puerto Rico.
