>
Article snippet: Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded, is bearing down on Florida. The Times, which has journalists deployed through the region, is providing free digital access to all storm news. For the latest up-to-the-minute dispatches, read this live Saturday briefing. Here is a general overview of the news. You can also view the storm’s path with our interactive maps. Many readers have asked about donations or other ways to help. You can find that information here, along with tips for avoiding fraud. On Wednesday, Irma struck land for the first time, hitting the island of Barbuda with winds of up to 185 miles per hour. Since then it has left a path of destruction as it passed through the Caribbean. Millions of people were ordered to evacuate in Florida, and hundreds of thousands were scrambling into crowded county shelters and jamming highways as they fled north. The planes over the state were filled with crowded flights. Read here about how people braced for the worst. On Saturday, officials scrambled to create shelters on Florida’s west coast after a change in Hurricane Irma’s path. This weekend, President Trump and his cabinet planned to monitor Hurricane Irma from Camp David. How did Hurricane Irma become so huge and destructive? Climate and weather experts explain that here. The Upshot explained how experts are gathering data on the storm’s strength. Many islands in the Caribbean were bracing this weekend for another major storm, Hurricane... Link to the full article to read more