Before and after Hurricane Irma: NASA images reveal sheer devastation in Caribbean

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather staff writer

September 12,2017, 2:35:06PM,EDT

 

 Satellite imagery released by NASA has revealed the broad scope of the devastation that Hurricane Irma unleashed on the northern Caribbean last week.

The massive Category 5 storm made a direct hit on the island of Barbuda on Sept. 6, before eventually doing the same to the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Barts and St. Martin.
Photos taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite reveal the drastic changes from late August to the days immediately following Irma.
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Many of the islands that once appeared vivid green due to lush vegetation are now brown after plants and trees were destroyed by winds greater than 185 mph.
Following its rampage through the Caribbean, Irma made two landfalls in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 10. The first landfall came during the morning in the lower Florida Keys, at Cudjoe Key. The second came in the afternoon on Marco Island.
The island of Barbuda suffered mass devastation, while the island of Antiuga to the south was not hit as hard by Irma:
The island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands:
The island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands:
The island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands:

The island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands: