Hurricane Irma has pummelled the Turks and Caicos Islands after leaving a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, killing at least 14 people.
Howling winds and rough seas battered the British overseas territory, experiencing a top-rated category five hurricane for the first time.
Some 500,000 people were told to leave south Florida with Irma due on Sunday.
The hurricane has been downgraded to a category four, but officials warn that it remains “extremely dangerous”.
The US National Weather Service says that Irma was expected to bring wind speeds of around 165mph (270km/h) over the weekend.
An estimated 1.2 million people have been affected by Irma and that could rise sharply to 26 million, the Red Cross says.
There are concerns that disease could spread rapidly in areas where drinking water and sanitation services have broken down, and officials have warned that the death toll is likely to rise.
Irma has passed through Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands and is projected to move towards Cuba and the Bahamas.
The worst of the storm is expected to hit east and central Cuba, with the eye of the storm predicted to pass between the north coast of Cuba and the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
About 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba, with resorts on the north coast now empty, the Reuters has said.
