As the island of New Providence gave thanks for being spared, Hurricane Irma bore down on Grand Bahama with devastating fury. In spite of likewise being spared a direct hit, Freeport saw roofs ripped from homes, multiple tornadoes and downed power lines that started at least one fire as Hurricane Irma began the US leg of her tour of destruction.

Having reportedly killed some 20 persons as she tore through the northern Caribbean as a Category 5, Hurricane Irma is a monster storm of historical if not biblical proportions stretching from the Gulf of Mexico across Florida and over the northwest Bahamas. While September is climatologically the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, waters that proved even warmer than usual this year fueled Irma into one of the largest and strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin.

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