Hurricane Irma is roaring through the Caribbean en route to America, leaving at least eight people dead and hundreds of millions of pounds of damage in its wake.
St Martin, St Barts, Barbuda, Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands have ben devastated in what has been described as “apocalyptic” scenes.
Four people died in St Martin, three are dead in Puerto Rico and one person died in Barbuda, according to early reports. The death toll is expected to rise substantially as officials trawl through the wreackage on the damaged islands and Hurricane Irma continues west through more populated countries.
Mr Trump said today America was “very concerned” about Hurricane Irma.
READ MORE: Hurricane Irma latest: Which US cities are at risk?
The US president, who owns several Caribbean properties and a major estate in Florida, said Hurricane Irma is “probably more powerful than Hurricane Harvey”, which left Houston under water and 71 dead last week.
He promised citizens in the south-east US, as well as those in American territories in the Caribbean, the country was “as well prepared as it can possibly be”.
Mr Trump said Puerto Rico had escaped the worst of the hurricane but said those on the Virgin Islands had been “hit hard”.
And he said the winds seen from Hurricane Irma, which have reached sustained speeds of 185mph and gusts of more than 200mph, were the “strongest we have ever seen”.
Hurricane Irma’s eye is forecast to soon pass over the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory, and the Bahamas before moving towards Cuba’s keys.
The hurricane will likely hit Florida as a very powerful Category 4 storm on Sunday, with storm surges and flooding beginning within the next 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Cuba has already started evacuating some of the 51,000 tourists visiting the island, particularly 36,000 people at resorts on the picturesque northern coast.
This is a breaking story, more to follow…