Tropical Storm Katia 2017 Declared as Hurricane; Another Possible Hurricane to Follow Irma
Hurricane Irma is nearing the state of Florida, but more threats have emerged as Tropical Storm Jose and Tropical Storm Katia, which are said to become hurricanes soon, are following Irma's path.
The said hurricane has already devastated more than 90 percent of Barbuda, a small island in the Carribean that has a population of only 1,800. Leaving utter destruction in its wake, the strongest Atlantic Ocean storm ever recorded in history has turned the said island into ruins.
As Hurricane Irma hit the Caribbean with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, it destroyed buildings and flooded hotels.
"Barbuda is literally rubble. The entire housing stock was damaged. It is just a total devastation," Prime Minister Gaston Browne reportedly said in a statement, as reported by according to The Telegraph.
Currently, a total of six deaths have been reported in Barbuda, St. Bart's, and St. Martin.
As for Tropical Storm Jose, it is now closely behind Irma, at around 1,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles as of Sept. 6 at 11 a.m. ET. Tropical Storm Katia, on the other hand, which started out as a tropical depression, has continued to grow stronger in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has announced that both Jose and Katia have been upgraded to hurricanes, with the latter having maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. According to their forecast, Katia could make a landfall on southeastern Mexico in the coming weekend.
"Katia is embedded within weak steering currents, and the cyclone will most likely meander in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico for the next day or two," the NHC said. "After that time, global models develop a ridge over the northern Gulf of Mexico and this flow pattern will steer Katia southwestward toward the state of Veracruz," they added.
The government of Mexico has reportedly issued a Hurricane Watch for Veracruz, from the municipality of Tuxpan to Laguna Verde.
