Barbuda, St. Martin and Anguila were facing the threat of another major storm Saturday as Hurricane Jose loomed even as they took in the massive destruction wrought by deadly Hurricane Irma.
A Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph, Jose was expected to veer toward the north western Caribbean islands duing Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The residents of Barbuda, still reeling from Irma, were forced to evacuate Frida to their sister island of Antigua, picked up by fishing boats and private vessels ahead of the next storm.
Just after 4. a.m. ET Saturday, Jose was 240 miles east south east of the group, known as the Leeward Islands, according to Michael Palmer, lead meteorologist at the Weather Channel.
He said it was still unclear if the storm would make landfall but hurricane-force winds would likely sweep over the islands.
“The big takeaway for Jose, is that it’s threatening the same islands that have just been hit by Irma,” he said.
“While there may be nothing left to destroy…unfortunately after Irma, Jose could exacerbate the misery of the people who are still there,” he added.
Jose was classified as a hurricane earlier this week and quickly intensified to a Category 4 storm on Friday. Early Saturday there was concern that it might rise to a Category 5, according to Reuters.
Related: Hurricane Irma Leaves Path of Destruction in Caribbean
“The hurricane is likely to meander around in the Caribbean and southwest Atlantic for about a week,” said Palmer.
“The question is whether it will stay between Bermuda and the Bahamas for the next few days or it could be picked up in a low-pressure system and sit between Bermuda and the U.S.,” he said.
Hurricane Irma slammed into the easternmost islands of the Caribbean Wednesday before moving on and lashing Haiti and the Dominican Republic and the Leeward islands in the northwest.
The powerful Hurricane left a path of destruction in its wake, tearing off roofs, damaging buildings and bringing fearsome storm surges across the Caribbean. At least 23 people were killed in the storm.
On the island of Barbuda, which has a population of some 1,400 people, 90 percent of the buildings were destroyed.
“If you know Barbuda before and what you saw, it’s completely destroyed,” Michael Joseph, president of the Red Cross in Antigua and Barbuda who was in Barbuda Thursday, said on MSNBC Friday.
