Three storms are currently swirling around the waters of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Katia is headed for the UK, taking gale force winds to Europe and Tropical Storm Maria is expected to affect Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Tropical Storm Nate is forecast to make landfall in Mexico late on Sunday night bringing winds of up to 120 mph to the North American nation.
Hurricane Katia is forecast to arrive in Northern Ireland and Scotland by 2am on Monday 12th September 2011. By then, its maximum gusts will have reduced from around 90 knots to around 60 knots or around 70 mph. The storm has been videoed from space by NASA and is hundreds of miles wide.
Tropical Storm Maria will roll through Puerto Rico on Saturday bring winds of up to 45 knots or 51 mph. The government of Antigua has issued a tropical stormn warning for Antigua, Anguilla, Barbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, Saint Kitts and the British Virgin Islands. The storm will bring further severe weather to Necker Island, where in late August, British entrepreneur Richard Branson had to rescue guests at his luxury retreat from a fire caused by lightning. A tropical storm warning has also been issued for the US Virgin Islands.
In This Story: Antigua
Antigua and Barbuda is an island sovereign state in the West Indies in the Americas, lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major islands, Antigua and Barbuda (separated by 39 miles), and a number of smaller islands (including Great Bird, Green, Guiana, Long, Maiden, Prickly Pear, York Islands and further south, the island of Redonda).
The permanent population numbers about 95,900 (2018 est.), with 97% being resident on Antigua. The capital and largest port and city is St. John’s on Antigua, with Codrington being the largest town on Barbuda. Lying near each other, Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles, roughly at 17°N of the equator.
Following self-governance in its internal affairs, independence was granted from United Kingdom on 1 November 1981.
Antigua and Barbuda is a member of the Commonwealth and Elizabeth II is the country’s queen and head of state.
The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago’s land area and is home to 88% of the archipelago’s population.
The archipelagic state consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola Island (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the US state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys.
The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes The Bahamas’ territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space. The country gained governmental independence in 1973 led by Sir Lynden O. Pindling, with Elizabeth II as its queen.
Barbuda is a small island located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the sovereign Commonwealth nation of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located north of the Antigua Island and is part of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies. Antigua and Barbuda gained full independence on 1 November 1981 as a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations. The island is a popular tourist destination because of its moderate climate and coastline.
Historically, most of Barbuda’s 1,634 residents have lived in the town of Codrington. However, in September 2017, Hurricane Irma damaged or destroyed 95% of the island’s buildings and infrastructure and, as a result, all the island’s inhabitants were evacuated to Antigua, leaving Barbuda empty for the first time in modern history.
The British Virgin Islands, part of a volcanic archipelago in the Caribbean, is a British overseas territory. Comprising 4 main islands and many smaller ones, it’s known for its reef-lined beaches and as a yachting destination. The largest island, Tortola, is home to the capital, Road Town, and rainforest-filled Sage Mountain National Park. On Virgin Gorda island is the Baths, a labyrinth of beachside boulders.
The Caribbean is a region of the Americas that comprises the Caribbean Sea, its surrounding coasts, and its islands. The region lies southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and of the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground. Lightning can occur between opposite charges within the thunderstorm cloud (intra-cloud lightning) or between opposite charges in the cloud and on the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). (Source: NSSL)
Mexico is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is the most populous Spanish-speaking nation. Mexico City is its capital city and largest metropolis.
Mexico became an independent nation state after the successful Mexican War of Independence against Spain in 1821.
Mexico is a developing country, but has the world’s 15th-largest economy by nominal GDP and the 11th-largest by PPP, with the United States being its largest economic partner. Since 2006, a conflict between the government and drug trafficking syndicates has led to over 120,000 deaths.
Mexico receives a significant number of tourists every year; in 2018, it was the 6th most-visited country in the world, with 39 million international arrivals.
Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island and unincorporated U.S. territory with a landscape of mountains, waterfalls and the El Yunque tropical rainforest. In San Juan, the capital and largest city, the Isla Verde area is known for its hotel strip, beach bars and casinos. Its Old San Juan neighborhood features colorful Spanish colonial buildings and El Morro and La Fortaleza, massive, centuries-old fortresses.
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, adventurer, investor, author, and commercial astronaut. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age.
