‘May God protect us all’: Puerto Rico and tiny islands in Irma’s path fear for the worst

I've been praying that Hurricane Irma bypasses Puerto Rico and the other islands! 
I got a lot of family there.

Washington Post reports in Puerto Rico, some residents are preparing to be without electricity for between four and six months.

In St. Thomas, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, people are praying their roofs hold.

Throughout these American territories and on other Caribbean islands in Hurricane Irma's path, there was widespread fear Tuesday night and early Wednesday, even in the face of preemptive emergency declarations, that this ferocious and possibly historic Category 5 storm will bring with it a devastating storm surge, destructive winds and dangerous flooding and lead to a long, painstaking journey back to normalcy.

Irma is predicted to become the strongest hurricane on record to hit the Leeward Islands, a band of territories and commonwealths stretching southeast from Puerto Rico. At 5 a.m. Wednesday, as the National Hurricane Center declared it “potentially catastrophic,” the tropical cyclone was barreling toward the Leewards' northernmost islands.

Irma’s eye passed over Barbuda around 1:47 a.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Residents told the Associated Press over local radio that phone lines went down. Heavy rain and howling winds raked the neighboring island of Antigua, the news service reported, sending debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters.

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