Powerful Hurricane Irma reaches Caribbean

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, churned across northern Caribbean islands on Wednesday with a catastrophic mix of fierce winds, surf and rain en route to a possible Florida landfall this weekend.

Irma is expected to become the second powerful storm to thrash the US mainland in as many weeks after devastating Hurricane Harvey, but its precise trajectory remained uncertain on Wednesday.

The Category 5 storm's eye, packing winds of 295 km/h, passed over the island of Barbuda east of Puerto Rico, on Wednesday morning, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. Its path could take it to Florida on Saturday.