Caribbean broadcaster ABS has posted photos on their Facebook page, showing the destructive damage of Hurricane Irma.

Below are some photos from a drenched Anguilla.

And the following are from St Martin:

Hurricane Irma is the category five hurricane - the highest possible level.

Here's our instagraph showing potential damage depending on the power of a storm

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has just released updates on tropical storms Jose and Katia.

Tropical Storm Jose is approaching hurricane-level strength, with sustained winds at speeds up to 70mph.

Katia, which is perched in the Gulf of Mexico off the Mexico coastline, is moving very little, according to the NHC.

Image source, Reuters

The plane carrying Pope Francis to Colombia has been forced to change its flight plan to avoid a run-in with Hurricane Irma, the AFP news agency reports, quoting a statement by the Vatican.

"Because of a hurricane, the Holy Father's flight will take a more southern route and will enter the airspaces of three other countries (Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago)", the statement said.

The plane departed Rome on Wednesday morning and was originally scheduled to arrive in Bogota at 16:30 local time (21:30 GMT).

Freelance journalist Eric de Bondt has posted these pictures, which he says show the devastation at St. Maarten's Princess Juliana International Airport after the hurricane struck.

The airport is famed for having a beach very close to the runway. Photos are often shared of its planes flying just above sunbathers' heads.

Image source, Princess Juliana Airport

The Antigua/Barbuda Broadcasting Services report that Prime Minister Browne will take a military helicopter to the island of Barbuda to help deliver emergency supplies as soon as an "all clear" is given.

In an earlier statement, Browne praised emergency services for their work, saying that "our country can resume normal life within hours".

Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, has just given an update on the storm.

He says "no life has been lost - all the people survived".

"We in Antigua have weathered the most powerful hurricane ever to storm its way through the Caribbean.

"And we have done so with stunning results."

Read his full statement here, external.

What's Hurricane Irma like on the inside? Check out this footage taken by a research plane from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This video was published on Tuesday.

And here's a one-minute audio explainer on Irma by our weather presenter Sarah Keith-Lucas on BBC Minute.

Image source, CBS

Florida governor Rick Scott is giving a briefing now, and advising residents, "We can rebuild your home, but we cannot rebuild your life".

Mandatory evacuations are in place for some coastal and island regions, and all state road tolls have been suspended to allow quicker evacuations from the Florida peninsula.

This storm is "bigger, faster, and stronger than Hurricane Andrew", Governor Scott says, adding that 1,000 national guard members have been activated so far.

The effect of the storm could be "statewide, and everyone should be prepared", he says.

The Weather Channel reports that Irma is about 30 miles (50km) from the British Virgin Islands, and is expected to make landfall there in the next two hours.

Flights between many of the islands, which include the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, and the British Virgin Islands, have been cancelled.

Antigua's airport is closed on Wednesday.

British Airways cancelled a flight from the UK on Tuesday and, along with Virgin Atlantic, changed return schedules.

Also on Tuesday, British Airways cancelled its flight to Antigua, which was then due to continue to Tobago.

BA sent an empty aircraft to Antigua to bring travellers home early. The full flight of 326 passengers left the island early evening on Tuesday.

Supermarket shelves are rapidly emptying in Florida, days before Irma may hit the US mainland.

Emergency officials have advised Miami residents to have three days of food and water on hand.

Emergency officials in Cuba have warned of a direct hit later in the week.

Our Cuba correspondent, Will Grant, external, says the local media have ramped up the coverage.