新奇事件簿 飓风厄玛袭击加勒比海（在线收听）

A record-breaking hurricane is causing death and destruction as it passes through the Caribbean and heads towards the U.S. state of Florida. On Thursday, Hurricane Irma caused major devastation across the Caribbean islands of Barbuda, St. Martin, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. The Prime Minister of Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said about 95 per cent of the buildings on the island had suffered some damage. He said: "It's absolute devastation. The island is literally under water….Barbuda is barely habitable." A government official for St Martin said: "There is massive destruction. We'll concentrate our first efforts so that in the next hours people can get access to food and drinking water."

一场创纪录的飓风穿过加勒比海，前往美国佛罗里达州的过程中造成了人员死亡和财产破坏。周四，飓风厄玛在加勒比海巴布达岛，圣马丁岛，安圭拉岛以及英属维尔京群岛造成了重大破坏。巴布达首相加斯东·布朗(Gaston Browne)称该岛大约95%的建筑受到不同程度的损坏。他说：“这是绝对的破坏。整座岛完全被淹没在水下。巴布达几乎已经不能居住了。”圣马丁一名政府官员表示：“破坏范围非常大。我们将努力提供救援，这样未来几小时人们就能得到食物和饮用水。”

Hurricane Irma is a category 5 storm – the strongest on the 1-5 scale of hurricanes. It is the second strongest hurricane ever to be recorded and the strongest ever recorded east of the Caribbean Sea. Irma has kept a wind speed close to 300kph for more than 24 hours. This is the longest period ever recorded. Meteorologists said Hurricane Irma was over 1,200km wide. It is likely to become a Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall in Florida on Saturday morning. Florida officials have already ordered a mandatory evacuation of Florida Keys - the southern part of the state of Florida. Residents there are bracing themselves for winds of up to 300kph and massive and damaging storm surges.

飓风厄玛是一场五级风暴——飓风总共分为五级，这是最高级。这是有记录以来第二强飓风，也是加勒比海东部最强的飓风。厄玛记录到持续了超过24小时的风速接近300米每小时的飓风。这是有记录以来持续时间最长的。气象学家表示，飓风厄玛的宽度超过1200千米。周六早上在佛罗里达登陆时可能降为四级飓风。佛罗里达官员已经下达佛罗里达岛链撤离令——也就是佛罗里达南部地区。那里的居民将迎来高达300千米每小时的大风和破坏性的暴风雨。