NOAAHurricane Irma is officially one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded, and the Category 5 storm is expected to slam the eastern Caribbean islands with devastating winds, heavy rains, and catastrophic storm surges. At 2 PM ET on Tuesday, Irma was sitting 180 miles east of Antigua with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. The National Hurricane Center predicts the storm to start hitting the Leeward Islands, the chain of islands separating the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Irma will likely begin battering Puerto Rico and the surrounding islands Wednesday night, the Dominican Republic and Haiti Thursday morning, and Jamaica Friday morning. Florida and Cuba could see the storm by Saturday and Sunday, but since that forecast is five days out, the weather models still aren't sure where exactly Irma will be at that point, or how devastating the storm could be by then. NOAAGoogle Maps Hurricane warnings are in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St.