Monster Hurricane Irma slammed into the French Caribbean islands on Wednesday after making landfall in Barbuda, packing ferocious winds and causing major flooding in low-lying areas.

As the rare Category Five storm barreled its way across the Caribbean, it brought gusting winds of up to 185 miles per hour (294 kilometers per hour), weather experts said.

After making landfall just before 0600 GMT in Barbuda, part of the twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, the hurricane swept on to French-run Saint Barthelemy, also known as St Barts, and Saint Martin, an island divided between France and the Netherlands.

The French weather office said Irma was "a historic hurricane (with) an unprecedented intensity over the Atlantic," with a French minister saying it had already "caused major damage" across its two island territories.

Coastal areas were being "battered extremely violently" by the sea, with the weather office logging winds of 244 kph (151 mph) before its monitoring equipment was destroyed by the hurricane.

With the islands on maximum alert ahead of the arrival of the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, France had raised the alarm over the fate of some 7,000 people who refused to seek shelter.

In Paris, France's minister for overseas territories, Annick Girardin, said the islanders had likely underestimated the power of the storm.

"People don't know phenomena of this scale in this part of the Caribbean," she said.

- Heading for Puerto Rico -

The massive storm, which is beating a path northwest, was also expected to hit the larger French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique which are also part of the Leeward Islands that run in an arc southeast of Puerto Rico.

On Tuesday, as the storm was still over the Atlantic, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it was the strongest hurricane ever recorded over that part of the ocean.

With forecasters warning of a potentially catastrophic storm, involving surges of up to 20 feet (six meters) above normal tide levels, people evacuated tourist areas, stocked up on provisions, and packed into shelters across an area stretching as far north as Florida.

Irma, which is expected to stay in the region for days, follows hot on the heels of Hurricane Harvey which devastated swathes of Texas in late August.

- 'I'm just praying' -

Packed into shelters, many frightened residents were calling in to local radio stations to voice their concerns.

"I am just praying to God. Everything happens for a reason," said a woman called Kazia living on Antigua, where people were hunkering down in the dark after officials turned off the island's power supply as a safety precaution.

"I can hear very strong winds and things being thrown around, but I am scared to look outside," said another Antiguan called Davina, who lives in an area called York.

Category Five is the highest on the scale for hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and Irma is expected to reach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by nightfall Wednesday.

Hurricanes of this category are rare. They can tear off roofing, shatter windows, uproot palm trees and turn them into deadly projectiles.

- Shelters packed -

In Guadeloupe, schools and government offices in have been closed while hospitals stocked up on medicines, food and drinking water.

Across the island, shelters were packed with a mixture of local families and tourists.

"We came here to protect our little two-year-old boy," said Ludovic, a tourist who only gave his first name.

"We hadn't prepared for this disaster scenario. Our rental home is beautiful but it only has bay windows."

Florida is expecting to face the brunt of the storm from Friday night.

As the hurricane approached, President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, authorizing federal funding to help local authorities respond.

"My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary!" he tweeted.

- Threat to Puerto Rico, Florida -

Florida Governor Rick Scott said Irma, which comes barely a week after Harvey claimed at least 42 lives, posed "a severe threat to the entire state".

Tourists in the popular Key West islands were packing their bags on a mandatory evacuation order and were to begin leaving at sunrise on Wednesday, with a similar order for residents due to follow.

 

"We're emphatically telling people you must evacuate, you cannot afford to stay on an island with a Category 5 hurricane coming at you," said Monroe County emergency operations center director Martin Senterfitt.

There were long queues as people rushed to get batteries, bottled water, groceries and fuel, while many cut trees around their homes and sought to tie down objects.

In a crowded supermarket in Miami Beach where people were scrambling to buy provisions, it was difficult to find basic supplies like water.

Whole shelves stood empty.

"People go crazy and buy up everything," 81-year-old resident Gladys Bosque told AFP.

"There's no water, no milk, there are very few cans -- and no cat food."

In Puerto Rico, Governor Ricardo Rossello activated the National Guard and opened storm shelters sufficient to house up to 62,000 people.

A US aircraft carrier with a field hospital and dozens of aircraft able to conduct rescue or supply missions have been put on standby, US emergency authorities said.

In Rio Grande, 33-year-old Sheilyn Rodriguez was stocking up on batteries, canned food and ice in case of a power outage.

"I really am scared for my kid," she told AFP, referring to her nine-year-old son.

source: AFP