Parts Of The Caribbean Decimated By Devastating Hurricane Irma
BARBUDA (CBSNewYork) -- Hurricane Irma is leaving massive damage in its wake after decimating the Caribbean island of Barbuda and now, they're facing another threat.
As CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported, so much of that island was flattened by Irma, but there's no time to fully assess the damage or pick up the pieces because now they're preparing and evacuating for what could be another hit.
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For the small Caribbean island -- home to fewer than 2,000 people -- the debris and widespread damage is unprecedented.
The fierce intensity of Irma leveled entire communities. Overhead drone footage shows just how badly the then-Category 5 storm battered the island.
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Even lifelong residents who have lived through many hurricanes are at a loss.
"This is the worst one I've ever seen," Barbuda resident Gerald Teague told CBS News.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says 95 percent of the buildings are damaged, and now many of the people who made it through the storm are boarding up what's left of their homes and evacuating to Antigua in hopes of dodging the second major storm heading their way -- Hurricane Jose.
"It's my home," Barbuda resident Elvis Burton said. "I have to try to save it."
In the Bahamas, residents say they are using whatever resources they have to prepare.
"We just got some bags that we were given and just filling them by hand to make sandbags to protect the doors and stuff from water coming in," one woman said.
Residents from southern parts of the island chain took flights north to Nassau Friday, hoping to dodge the worst of it.
People in Puerto Rico are getting a better look at the wide-spread flooding from the storm that's already passed over them. Residents wade through streets inundated with water as more than one million people are still without power.
The storm pummelled the islands of Turks and Caicos after drenching parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where people are now surveying the damage.
On Saturday, some military and emergency personnel from the United States and Europe are heading to the Caribbean to do what they can to help.
