this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 5pm. hurricane irma pounds cuba with winds of more than 150 mph. the cuban authorities did try to move large numbers of people out of harm's way, but still many have been left, particularly in the central province. we understand there are many thousands ever people there without power at the moment. as the storm approaches florida, nearly 6 million people have been told to leave their homes. as the storm approaches florida, nearly 6 million people have been told to leave their homes. if you've been ordered to evacuate, you need to leave now. do not wait. evacuate. not tonight, not in an hour, you need to go right now. in other news: the un warns of an unprecedented refugee crisis after nearly 300,000 rohingya muslims flee from myanmar to bangladesh. the manchester arena reopens tonight with a benefit concert,

more than three months after the terrorist attack, which killed 22 people. england's cricketers wrap up the series against the west indies, winning the third test at lord's by nine wickets. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. hurricane irma is continuing to sweep its way across the caribbean, en route to the us coast, leaving a path of devastation. cuba is the latest island to be hit. the category four storm, it was category five, the highest, but has eased slightly, made landfall off the north—eastern coast of cuba overnight bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

communities have lost power and communication is becoming increasingly difficult in more remote areas. the bahamas have largely been spared after the storm changed course. this is irma's trajectory. it's expected to make landfall with us coast tomorrow, before heading inland. in florida, more than 5 million people, a quarter of its population, have been told to evacuate. in the past hour, it has been confirmed that there have been six fertility is in the british virgin islands. —— six fatalities. and there's another hurricane approaching the carribean. jose has strengthened to a category four, driving winds of 125 miles an hour, and forecasters warn it could strengthen still further. richard galpin reports. four days after hurricane irma

first hit the caribbean, cuba is now feeling the full force of its deadly winds. gusts of more than 150 miles an hour, blasting these desolate streets in the north. the destruction is going to be terrible and the economic situation is very bad. great international assistance is going to be needed. many houses are old and unstable, but so far it is not clear how much damage it has caused. what is clear is the category four hurricane will track along much of cuba's northern coast, before shifting north to the united states. already, thousands of people have moved away from the cuban coast, including british tourists. meanwhile, in southern florida, the next place expected to be hit by the hurricane, there's already been unprecedented evacuation.

more than five million people ordered to leave. for any people who've not already started driving out of the area, it's too late, according to the authorities. we have shelters in your community, go to those shelters. you can go to your family, go to yourfriends, go to those shelters. but we don't want people on the road when this storm starts to hit. this is the destruction that hurricane irma has already caused on some of the islands it's passed over so far this week. this is barbuda, or what's left of it. and now another powerful hurricane, jose, is fast approaching the same area. richard galpin, bbc news. officials in cuba say hurricane irma has caused "significant damage" along the northern coastline. 0ur correspondent will grant is in the capital, havana. we are hearing that a lot of places, a lot of communities along that

north coastline have been affected. storm surges bringing flooding into, for example, the picturesque, or certainly once picturesque, fishing village of caibarien. and further along the coast in the central province of camaguey. we understand there are a lot of blackouts there. people trying to survive without power. we're still trying to find out broader details, but we know that whole area took a real battering. and of course, irma is still moving along that coastline, causing damage as she goes. and as you were saying yesterday, despite the good military infrastructure that there is, the strong military infrastructure in cuba itself, when you've got a natural disaster of these proportions, there is only so much preparation you can do.

it's more about, i guess, what that infrastructure can do to help afterwards. so how quickly do you think help will get to the areas where it's needed 7 i think the government's mind is very clearly focused on this, and this alone at the moment. it's been interesting to watch how many resources have been pulled from different parts of the country and moved in that direction of the oncoming storm. of course, because of the one—party state that cuba is, it can depend on various different layers of government, right down to the street level, if you like, neighbourhood watch sssociations, if you like. they're called cdrs, they will be turning out, supporting and helping those affected. but this goes way beyond that, really. if there is the same sort of devastation we have seen elsewhere in the caribbean, it will be a clean—up operation and a salvage operation.

one can only think that there are a lot of communities and a lot of worried families all over the island, waiting to hear from that affected stretch. that was will grant in havana. let's get more reaction from the state of florida. major richard rand is from the north miami beach police department and hejoins me live via webcam. thank you for your time. a lot of people are trying to get out of their mac, but with the emergency services as well, you have do stay put. yes, i have been here for18 hours, we have a new ship coming on duty now, we just finished hours, we have a new ship coming on duty now, wejust finished our briefing, and we have been busy here in south florida. have most people that have decided to go left, or is there still time for people who want to get away to do so? at this point, most people have evacuated. i think people are definitely heeding the warning and heading north. u nfortu nately, warning and heading north. unfortunately, the storm is tracking to the north. but we believe most people in the factual areas —— evacuation areas have left. for those that have stayed, as the

hurricane passes through, there is not much you can do to help them at that point is there really? we have sent messages over social media and live tv. 0nce sent messages over social media and live tv. once the wind sustains a0 mph, emergency responses will be delayed. people are on their own if they haven't evacuated, they are in an evacuation zone until we can get their mac. what plans have you put in place in terms of extra personnel and so on once the wind lawrie dies down to go out and help? we have different teams set up, we have a number of different teams response all for different areas in the city. all our officers are working 12 hour shifts. we have also teamed up with local agencies, we have five currently located here in north miami beach, and as a community, we come together to protect the

residents. it is a densely populated area, isn't it? a very, very populated area. i guess you will have seen major rand hurricanes before, but listening to and watching the reports about irma, what are your feelings as it approaches the state? we have been watching it or not. i have been here 18 hours now, and it has turned a little bit to the west. however the storm is so large, over a00 miles, and the state of florida across is 125 miles, just to give you an idea of how big the storm is. it is covering the whole state of florida, even though it is moving west, we are looking at tropical storm winds, category one wins for a period of 30 hours, which will cause some disruption —— at a grey one winds. thank you for talking to us, good luck to you and your colleagues as you deal with hurricane irma. thomas

xhaka knacker you deal with hurricane irma. thomas xha ka knacker is you deal with hurricane irma. thomas xhaka knacker is in naples in florida. tell us what the situation is like as you move around. actually, we are in fort lauderdale on the other side of florida. we are en route to naples. at the moment, the projected path is expected to get into naples during tomorrow evening. we have been hearing from the emergency services you have been interviewing that the western side of florida... sorry, the eastern side of florida, where miami is, bad weather is predicted. certainly some disruption and damage here, but naples at the moment, as it stands, and that entire gulf coast of florida is in the path of the core of the storm, so bad destructive winds, all the

way up into tampa as well. not quite in naples yet. we are about an hour away before we get them. 0k, as you drive around, is it a ghost town? are there signs of people moving around, or does it look like most people have heeded warnings to hunker down or get out? yes, i think they have. it is very quiet at the moment, obviously we are seeing typical scenes that you expect before a hurricane hits will stop clots or boarded up windows and storm shutters. not many people are out on the streets at all. we are driving around now and hardly anyone is here. it is a bit of a ghost town. we arrived yesterday evening into 0rlando, so quite a trip down south. what we also saw was, en route, down the main highways, a lot of emergency services have strategically placed all of the vehicles that are going to help in the recovery operation restoring

power lines, and getting the infrastructure back up and running. they have been placing all of the vehicles that will help with that in various spots all along the length of the state. we were passing lots of the state. we were passing lots of vehicles, sometimes a dozen emergency vehicles parked in a place. we saw, i think, emergency vehicles parked in a place. we saw, ithink, army vehicles as well, i think. from us as observers here, it certainly looks like they really are prepared for this storm. 0k, thomas, thank you for the moment. we have heard that although it is downgraded to category three, hurricane irma will pick up speed as it heads towards florida. the government is due to hold an emergency cobra meeting in the next hour. joining me now from whitehall is our political correspondent chris mason. what is the latest you are hearing about what the government is saying and doing? in the last 10-15

minutes, the cobra meeting got underway here at the cabinet office in whitehall, down the road from downing street. sir michael fallon, the defence secretary, arriving just before 5pm. the latest we have from the ministry of defence, they are clearly keen to emphasise the scale of their response, they are saying that 300 minute to personnel including 200 royal marines have been sent to the caribbean. they we re been sent to the caribbean. they were deployed to barbados and have been flown on from their mac on helicopters. three planes leaving raf brize norton yesterday with medical supplies, raf brize norton yesterday with medicalsupplies, emergency raf brize norton yesterday with medical supplies, emergency shelter kits, rations and also clean water. today, another plane has left brize norton carrying a helicopter. that was due to arrive in the region any time now. i am told another helicopter will be sent tomorrow, a ship from the royal navy has been sent from the mediterranean and is crossing the atlantic a few days

before it arrives. it will be a sense of emphasis from sir michael fallon on a real scaling up of the effo rts fallon on a real scaling up of the efforts in the coming days. absolutely crucial for them this afternoon is trying to clear the ru nway afternoon is trying to clear the runway on the british virgin islands. they have not been able to fly planes directly into the british virgin islands, which is why by burgess barbados has been the main base for planes to land. the first priority is to clear the run rate. what is the government saying at this stage, if anything, about liaising with people who are trying to make contact with relatives? i spoke to a lady earlier trying to find out if her husband and friends are safe on the british virgin islands. what is the government saying about efforts to reconnect

people and confirmed that people hopefully are ok? i think they are keenly aware of the need to be seen to be doing that. so many people have come to contact us at the bbc to get accurate information. a key emphasis in the briefing from the ministry of defence is an awareness that communications on the islands have been hugely affected by the storms. they are doing their best, working in very tricky circumstances. chris, thank you very much, chris mason there. in a moment, kate silverton will be here with a full round up of the day's news when we'll be joined by viewers on bbc one. but first let's get a little more on the trajectory of hurricane irma and hurricane jose. the bbc weather presenter, ben rich, explained what was known about its path. right now, irma is passing just to the north of cuba. you can see it here on the satellite picture. if i set that running, you can see the way the storm is gradually moving westwards.

it's been scraping along the north coast of cuba, but has come close enough to weaken the storm a little bit. remember, these hurricanes, when they make contact with the land, they tend to weaken. they need the warm waters of the ocean. this storm has weakened a little bit. sustained winds at the moment, 130 mph. down on where they have been, but that still makes it a category four hurricane as the storm continues to work its way westwards. it then looks like, and this is what we're waiting for now, really, it looks like the storm is going to track its way northwards towards florida, and as it moves over the warm waters again, it could well strengthen further once again. it could be getting stronger as it heads towards florida. we saw, for example, that it was predicted initially to hit the bahamas, it didn't. at least not in a major way. but is there any doubt that florida is going to really feel the impact of irma? we have been tracking this for many days now. and of course, the further out you get, as with most of these weather situations,

the greater the uncertainty comes. and yes, because of a slightly further westwards track, the bahamas is in a much better position than we were perhaps expecting. but in terms of florida, it now seems very likely that in some way, this storm will move towards florida. the forecast takes it towards the south—west of florida, so if we run the graphics further forward through saturday night and into sunday, you will see the way the storm system looks likely to edge across the very warm waters, sea temperatures around 31 degrees. that's why we think it could strengthen again. still likely to be a major hurricane as it makes landfall towards the south—west florida. then it looks most likely to edge up the western side of florida, places like tampa could see very, very heavy rain, some extremely strong winds, storm surge as well. a set of impact that could cause devastating effects. a word onjose, is that normal to have two

hurricanes coming so close together? we are approaching the peak of the atlantic hurricane season, so not so much of a surprise. jose is taking a slightly different track and is passing at the moment to the north of the leeward islands. it looks like it won't make a direct hit to places like barbuda, which is good news for them, although they will have a bout of wet and windy weather, and that storm looks likely to move to the north and will not, on current thinking, head towards puerto rico, cuba and florida. a slightly different track, but not that unusual to get that many hurricanes at this time of year. hurricane irma sweeps through cuba inflicting "substa ntial damage". a million cubans have been evacuated, along with thousands of foreign tourists. preparations are underway in miami, as officials warn residents to leave. if you have been ordered to evacuate, you need to leave now. do not wait. evacuate. not tonight, not in an hour, you need to go right now. manchester arena reopens tonight, with a benefit concert,

four months after the bomb attack that killed 22 people. and england beat the west indies, to win the test series. good afternoon. hurricane irma continues to devastate large parts of the caribbean, hitting cuba, as it heads now towards florida. a total of 26 people are thought to have died in the storm, six of them in the british territories of anguilla and the british virgin islands. the hurricane reached cuba in the early hours of this morning, with winds of up to 160 miles per hour, causing widespread damage and forcing more than a million people from their homes. in florida, a quarter of the population has been told to move, as the state prepares for irma's approach. she's expected to make landfall

initially across the florida keys early tomorrow morning, and then move across the south—west of the state. 0ur correspondent aleem maqbool is in miami and sent this report. there is little left for people to do in florida but get somewhere safe and wait. this hurricane shelter, like so many more across the city, is packed to capacity. wejust decided we were going to leave. we got up and saw on the tv all the traffic backed up, to atlanta. we said, we have waited too late to leave. so we stayed. i mean, we left everything, you know. 0ur furniture. 0ur appartment. but like would say, material things, we can build them again. the most important is the family. after days of talking, after all the warnings, it is now starting to feel real for the people of florida. the skies have darkened, the winds have picked up

and, in the coming hours, people here expect to be in the firm grip of hurricane irma. the latest place she made an landfall was the northern coast of cuba, causing waves of up to seven metres high. power lines were brought down, and buildings badly damaged. and this type of destruction has been wrought already elsewhere in the caribbean. nasa has recorded this spectacular footage of the eye of irma and its massive cloud mass on a projected course for florida. hurricane irma is beginning to batter the florida keys with dangerous winds and continues to make a catastrophic and life threatening category a storm with winds of 200 miles an hour. this is a deadly storm. the state has never seen anything like it. in spite of a huge destruction

of the state, there are many in florida, like vince, who want to stay in their homes with their belongings right through the hurricane. what is out of your hands, out of mother nature's hands, you can't control. what you can control is having generators, having gas. making sure there are no big trees right next to your house. you think you are going to be ok? i think so. but thousands don't want to risk gambling with nature. they are anxious, though, about the city they will emerge out into once irma has passed. we'll get more from aleem in miami in a moment. but first, the latest from the cuban capital havana, one of the few places on the north coast that is relatively unscathed. will grant is there. will, how bad is the damage on the areas that were directly hit? we understand they have been very badly hit. for example, a well—known

fishing village is largely submersion underwater. that whole coastline is popular with tourists, and we understand several keys are now cut off from the mainland, and water has search over the sea walls ina number of water has search over the sea walls in a number of areas along the northern coast. here in havana were a lot of tourists and cu ban here in havana were a lot of tourists and cuban people were brought for protection, is now also facing a warning. the winds are whipping up significantly at this stage. people are worried about the rain being dumped which could cause storm surges in what is a coastal city in havana. and aleem in miami. there must be real concern now about what happens next. it feels right now that everyone in this country is following the projected path of hurricane irma.

the latest map has been relatively kind, it appears in the eastern part of florida to the detriment of the western parts like tampa and naples. there is a huge risk still of a massive storm surge along both coasts. those on the west are among nearly 6 million people who have been told to leave their homes. the governor has also set up to 12 o'clock which has passedit also set up to 12 o'clock which has passed it is no longer safe to be on the roads. there will be an official curfew in a few hours, for the moment it is advised not to be on the roads because hurricane irma is still too close. rescue teams in southern mexico are using heavy machinery to search for survivors of a powerful earthquake which has killed at least 60 people. thousands of families have lost their homes, after buildings collapsed in three of the country's poorest states. president pena nieto has declared a national day of mourning. here, thousands of anti—brexit marchers have descended

on westminster to demand that britain stays in the european union. the rally, called the people's march for europe, carried the message, "unite, rethink and reject brexit". on monday, mps are due to vote on the repeal bill for brexit. manchester arena reopens tonight, nearly four months after the suicide bombing which killed 22 people. a special benefit concert will feature noel gallagher's high flying birds and rick astley. 0ur entertainment correspondent colin paterson is there for us now. iimagine it i imagine it will be very much an evening of mixed emotions? very much so. i have been speaking to people arriving at the venue since doors opened at five, and many people had actually bought tickets for tonight and had been at the original ariana grande concert. 0ne family, the parents had been in the fourier when the bomb went off.

they decided to buy tickets for tonight because they wanted to create happy memories. they described themselves as anxious, nervous but also excited. that sums up nervous but also excited. that sums up the atmosphere. i went in earlier, i heard noel gallagher sound check, a big surprise if he doesn't sing don't look back in angen doesn't sing don't look back in anger, an anthem to manchester after the bomb. there is high security, police with armed weapons. afterwards there will be a cordon around the whole venue. with all the sport, here's 0lly foster at the bbc sport centre. i'll have today's football results for you injust a moment. but england's cricketer‘s have clinched the test series against the west indies. they won the decider at lords by nine wickets, with over two days to spare. here's our sports correspondentjoe wilson. by now, it's almost automatic. another morning, he's off again. james anderson's first over of the day. first wicket of the day, roston chase gone. this cork flew before 11:30am.

it was not the last. anderson struck again before lunch. jermaine blackwood out and the match accelerated. but hope bats on the different level. he went past 50, as west indies tried to build a meaningful lead. hope gone for 62. and anderson ended with seven wickets in the innings. west indies were all out for 177. job done. well, hisjob done. england still had to score 107 to win. a precious opportunity for tom westley to impress in the middle. and for henry blofeld in the commentary box. at the end of his last test match special stint, an audience beyond even the radio acknowledged his career. winning runs came from mark stoneman, another aspiring batsman. the winter ashes may well expose any england weaknesses, butjoe root has

already won his first two series as england captain, and many of his predecessors had to wait a long time to do that. england also be the weather, winning just before the rain arrived, joe root reckons england have played brilliant cricket this summer. if they as a group can take confidence to australia, that is the precious commodity down there. in today's premier league matches, there were wins for arsenal, brighton, tottenham, chelsea and watford. but manchester city are top of their table, after beating ten—man liverpool 5—0. it wasjurgen klopp's heaviest defeat since taking over at liverpool, and city's biggest win against them in 80 years. adam wild reports. the season may only be a few weeks old, but already a match two teams quick to catch the eye, so far attractive and entertaining. that was the promise.

the reality was a little more complex. liverpool beginning the brighter, but it was city who got things started. given an opportunity, few are as reliable as sergio aguero. that was important but it is what happened next that made all the difference. liverpool forced to chase things. they did so with rather too much gusto. sadio mane shown a red card for this challenge, wreckless, and ultimately damaging. city unforgiving. with an extra man, one goal became two before half—time, gabrieljesus headed his first. his second after the break was little more than a gift. the only real mystery left was just how many were coming. leroy sane provided the answers. this made it four. before he and city finished with the best of the lot. liverpool's frailties ruthlessly exposed, manchester city living up to their promise. adam wild, bbc news. chris froome will win the vuelta a espana, the tour of spain,

tomorrow after coming through the penultimate stage safely. a tricky mountain finish in treacherous conditions gave froome's rivals some hope of catching him, but he finished third, to extend his lead to over two minutes, ahead of tomorrow's largely processional stage into madrid. he will become only the third man to complete the tour de france and vuelta double in the same year. it's finals weekend at the us open tennis. the bbc sport website has all the details, including jamie murray and martina hingisjust getting underway in the mixed doubles. that's all for now. there's more throughout the evening on the bbc news channel. we are back with the late news. now, on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. we have seen some hefty showers across the country today but those showers will fade through this evening and leaving us with a largely dry made with clear spells.

chilly in central and eastern areas for some fog patches and perhaps some frost. not in the towns and cities but in the countryside well into single figures. all the while the wind will fit in. through tomorrow we will see that cloud and rain spreading eastwards, quite late and patchy but the god every outburst. as the wind picks up there could be gilles in the exposed spot and temperatures of 1a celsius. monday and tuesday, it remained pretty unsettled, some spells of sunshine, heavy showers, strong winds and feeling cool. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: hurricane irma has made landfall in cuba with heavy rain and winds of more than 150 miles per hour

hitting the north of the country after devastating several caribbean islands and killing at least 20 people. meanwhile officials in southern florida have told 6.3 million people — a quarter of the state's population — to evacuate their homes before the storm arrives tomorrow. if you have been ordered to evacuate you need to leave now. do not weight, evacuate. not tonight, not in an hour, you need to go right now. the united nations is warning of an unprecedented refugee crisis in myanmar. it says more than a quarter of a million rohingya muslims have crossed the border to bangladesh. the manchester arena reopens tonight with a benefit concert, more than three months after the terrorist attack which killed 22 people. extra security measures will be in place for the show. let's get more now on hurricane irma and south—east florida is already

experiencing high winds, although the full impact of the storm is not expected until tomorrow. some residents have decided to stay where they are. but the governor of florida, rick scott, has again called on people to flee the path of the storm. he warned that time was running out for some residents the storm is here. hurricane irma is now impacting our state and south—eastern florida is experiencing strong winds and 25,000 people have lost power. hurricane irma is beginning to back—up florida with dangers wins and remains in category four storm with winds of 130 mph. this is a deadly storm. 0ur state has never seen anything like it. millions will see major impacts

with a deadly storm surge and life—threatening winds. the threat of significant storm surge along the entire west coast has increased. up to 12 feet of impact above ground level is now probable. six to 12 feet will cover your house. it flows in fast, very fast and then flows out, you will not survive all this storm surge. this is a life—threatening situation. if you have been ordered to evacuate you need to leave now, do not wait. evacuate. not tonight, not in an hour, you need to go right now. if you are in an evacuation zone, leave. evacuations are in place across the state, more than 5.6 million people have been ordered to evacuate and you must listen to

local evacuation orders. if you live in an evacuation zone in southwest florida you need to be on the road by noon orfind florida you need to be on the road by noon or find the nearest shelter to avoid life—threatening weather. these winds are coming. if you are in this area and planning to read and have not done so by noon do not get on the board. if you are on the west coast trying to go north you will have a hard time getting out. just remember this, once the storm started law enforcement cannot save you. iam started law enforcement cannot save you. i am a father and grandfather, i love my family more than anything, i cannot imagine life without them. do not put your life that of family in risk. right now is the time to do the right thing for yourself and yourfamily. the right thing for yourself and your family. school buses are helping in evacuations, please take advantage of this service. if you need to leave, and for whatever reason you are unable to do so and

need help, whether fuel, reason you are unable to do so and need help, whetherfuel, whatever theissue need help, whetherfuel, whatever the issue is, call the four number and we will do everything possible to get you out. jane 0'brien is in miami, florida where residents are preparing for the onslaught of hurricane irma. i asked her a little earlier about that uncompromising message from the state governor. he said if you're on the west coast, if you do not leave by noon do not bother, just two hours away, time is really running out and people are very apprehensive. most of the people who decided to leave have already left, but there are some diehards who have decided that for whatever reason to stay. 0ne diehards who have decided that for whatever reason to stay. one person who has got out is alex peres who joins me now. you are form the

florida keys. why have you decided to leave because you have not left before. we have always seen the storms, through and go by but this storms, through and go by but this storm will hit us and i would rather be out. some of your relatives are staying. they feel comfortable being inside, that is the home. that is where they want to be but, it is getting dangerous down there. it is not good. how worried about them argue? —— how worried about them are you? iam argue? —— how worried about them are you? i am very worried, i would not have left if i did not think it was an issue, i don't think they realise what is coming, they are in the comfort zone, other storms have passed by and we have been protected so far but right now it is not looking too good and i think eve ryo ne looking too good and i think everyone needs to get out. where are

your children? my children are in alabama with their grandparents, i sent them three days ago to keep them nice and safe. your family is scattered. can you stay in touch? we are trying the best we can? some of my relatives were sticking around because they have been fishing business and they want to stay to keep everything intact and protect the houses so left in the middle of the houses so left in the middle of the and everyone planned to scatter once the storm got closer so we do not know what is next. 0ne once the storm got closer so we do not know what is next. one of the things the government want about was the storm surge, several feet of water. give me a brief description of what that could do. it could put a lot of house is underwater because we have one, through and the water was about four feet, so this is to

ten feet, it will put a lot of water in and wash away a lot of stuff. alex, good luck. i hope you get to see your children soon. so do i. safety is the priority now and problem is once the storm starts no help will come and this is the message we are hearing over and over again. after the storm, yes, but right now it is time to get somewhere safe, take shelter and stay put. kerry emanuel, professor of atmospheric science at the massachusetts institute of technology, joins us from boston. we have seen the images of destruction caused by hurricane irma, but give us a sense of how much power this hurricane is wielding. we estimated hurricane

irma, at its peak intensity, was generating ad and 7 trillion w, the equivalent of half of the human electrical generation capacity of the planet. that is quite astonishing. it presumably brings an immense amount of power, even before the centre of the hurricane, the eye of the hurricane, is over any piece of the hurricane, is over any piece of land? yes, if you have not been through a hurricane it is almost impossible to imagine how much power it has. this is why we very much hope people get out of harm's way, if they possibly can. why is it so powerful? it is very powerful, we have seen almost as powerful, we have seen almost as powerful hurricanes before, it brought a record for the most powerful hurricane outside of the

gulf of mexico. it is a very powerful storm and it is the role of the dice. we have seen it has been downgraded toa we have seen it has been downgraded to a category three, but as the approaches florida, your estimation is it is likely to strengthen again? yes, but i should say we have had very bad record for casting changes in hurricane intensity. we have made no improvement over the past 30 yea rs no improvement over the past 30 years but the straits of florida have very warm and deep water and when it gets out of the land mass from cuba we expect it to get more intense but we do not have a great track record on these matters. but the ingredients are potentially there. and then what will happen to hurricane irma as it moves through florida? the current forecast track, it would

passed over the florida keys, low—lying islands, and we are very worried about them. there is quite a population on those pavements. it then moves are just off of south—western florida and up the coast. pa rt of south—western florida and up the coast. part of the problem is it only takes a very small change in the direction of the storm could bring its slightly inland so it is a very difficult forecast. do you believe that the strength of the hurricane has anything to do with more global changes to the weather and to the earth's temperature? is that part of the reason why irma is so strong or not? we find it impossible to make characterisations to any individual event like that. what we can say with some confidence is the

underlying probabilities of these are very intense storms are rising and they should continue to arise, saltley thermodynamic potential for seems to be increasing as models and theories suggest it should. very good to have you with us. the united nations is warning of an unprecedented refugee crisis in bangladesh. it says more than a quarter of a million people have fled from neighbouring myanmar in recent days — a dramatic increase on previous estimates. the muslim rohingya — minority says that myanmar‘s military has been attacking them and burning villages. the un says 270,000 people have crossed into bangladesh in just a fortnight. 0ur correspondent sanjoy majumder sent this report from the border between bangladesh and myanmar. that is the last village inside

bangladesh. myanmar it on the other side and every village on the other side and every village on the other side had apparently been burned to the ground, we have been told. there isa the ground, we have been told. there is a barbed wire fence separating the countries and you can see the bangladesh border police. they said over the past few days they have seen over the past few days they have seen increased military activity here, heard the sound of gunfire and explosions. it is believed that side of the border is heavily mined. this is one of the main routes for rohingya refugees coming into bangladesh. this morning we arrived here and heard some gunfire and then saw 300 to a00 burmese soldiers on that side. most went ahead but some stayed back. people said they were planting landmines on the ground to prevent the rohingya from crossing

east. the accusation is they are using landmines, which are banned by the international community. tens of thousands of rohingya refugees were already in bangladesh with more coming every day. this is yet another thing for them to be concerned about. rescue operations are under way in mexico after its most powerful earthquake in nearly a century killed more than sixty people. three of the poorest states in the country suffered the most, losing hundreds of buildings. president pena nieto has declared a national day of mourning. the bbc‘s juan paullier travelled to juchitan, where the destruction is widespread. almost 2a hours after the earthquake, rescue operations are still under way because one person is still missing here, a policeman that worked in the city town hall. part of the 19th—century building collapsed. this was the most affected place

by the most powerful earthquake to hit the country in almost a century. it was also the biggest experienced anywhere this year. a few seconds were enough to leave behind a trail of destruction and reduce parts of this city to rubble. this is a tragedy and one of the poorest parts of mexico, and many people here are not only grieving over the deaths of their relatives, their friends, their neighbours, but also deeply distressed by the destruction of their hometown and concerned about their own immediate future. they simply don't know where they're going to live. noinm naughtie talks to the biographer claire tomalin about her new book, about herself — a life of my own, on this week's meet the author.

claire tomalin is one of our great biographers. her subjects have included samuel pepys, jane austen, dickens and hardy. now she's done what many biographers don't do — she's written about herself. a life of my own, is her story, her family and her loves, the tragedies and joys in her life; the literary world in which she found her calling, her craft, welcome. having spent so much time dealing with the detail of other people's lives, trying to sort out truths from falsehoods, was it difficult to take the plunge and hold a mirror up to your own life? i think it was the most difficult book i have ever tried to write. i found it very painful and i asked myself quite often,

should i be doing this, shall i go on with it, shall i give up? there are a lot of tragedies in your life which we might touch on but as a whole, it's an extraordinary life, full of fun and friendship as well. why did you find it so tough? because i had to address, really, really sad things that happened, particularly the death of my beloved and wonderful daughter, susanna. who took her own life? who took her own life. and i wanted her to be there. i felt she was such a remarkable person. and i also feel that the care of depressed young people, we all know, it's not as good as it ought to be, and i suppose i blamed myself in a way, that i hadn't kept her alive. you had to deal with your feelings, you husband, nick tomlin, who was killed, in the yum kippur war, a terrible tragedy but you have had ups and downs

of extraordinary kind during your marriage and it's tough to write about that? yes. but i saw, i learned something from it. i saw that first of all, probably i shouldn't have married him. we were great friends and lovers and we had fun together but we were not really soul mates. and every time he ran off with a blonde and i was left with the children it had a good effect on me, because i thought, i've got to cope, i've got make my life, i've got to get a betterjob. and if you look at my life, when i came to look, i saw that each time he did something really dreadful, i grew and progressed so that most sadly, i mean it was terrible when he was killed, but i had in a way been prepared to cope. and in dealing with your own feelings at the time, in the 50s when you were a student through the 60s the tumultuos 70s, fleet street, the literary world, it must be difficult to write about friends and friendships

with real honesty? well, i think my friendships with terry kilmartin who, was literary editor of the observer, who was a wonderful friend to me, with kyle miller with neil atherton, with michael frane, who in the end became my husband but for many years was a friend to me, with sarah foreman, who was at the sunday times, who i must not leave out, marina warner, victoria glendenning, who was a great friend, because we both had children, we were both making our way in the literally world and we had such fun together. you moved in that literally world of newspapers, magazines, the new statesman, the sunday times, you became literally editor and in the late ‘60s and the 70s these were exhilarating times, in that world, weren't they? i was very lucky. i mean, journalism was booming. i had these brilliant friends and it was a very entertaining world to be part of, yes.

and newspapers and magazines in those days, to an extent which i think it isn't there now, really cared about original poetry, the job of the critic, about what the literary pages should do. it was thought as being important. i thought they were very important. i thought they really mattered. well, they did. i thought to address literature and the arts seriously and write seriously about them and entertainingly, which he these very, very funny review vorax like the brilliantjohn cary, i thought that was very important. and i thought each week, i must make my pages the best pages. there must be something on my pages, that everybody has to, people who don't usualally look at the book page, will want to read, and that was my goal. in some ways, it's a book, in part of course, about your family, but also about what it was like in that era. through the ‘60s when things opened up, when a sort of deferential social attitude gave way to something wilder

and more spontaneous. 0ur sexual life changed. well, absolutley, that was it. i mean i put in the book, the moment in 1963, when i'd had my fourth baby, and i went to my gynaecologist and he leaned forward over the desk and held up a packet and said "i think you might like these. these are pills that will stop you getting pregnant." and i said, "yes! yes! absolutely!" and i saw at that moment that things had changed between men and women. there's a great deal in the book about your growing affection for the english language, for literature, your discovery of thomas hardy, for example, whom you came to deal with as a biographer much later in life and the start of yourjourney into samuel pepys, and mary woolstonecraft of course. with mary woolstonecraft, i was a0 when i wrote that book, my first book. and i fell in love with the whole process with research and writing. and i realised at once that i had found my mitre. and you would always do that. but then i couldn't. i had to earn my living.

you can't earn your living from writing biographies. so i was very lucky to have the job at the sunday times and when i left the sunday times after wapping in 1986 i was able then, in my 50s, to start on my career as a writer and for the next 25 years i wrote historical biographers and i was very, very happy doing it. well, there's an enormous amount of happiness in this book, despite all the ups and downs and indeed the tragedies, you seem to be somebody who is somehow able to cope to a remarkable degree? yes, well, that is true but you do have to cope. if you don't cope... what's left? you might as well give in. and i think i learned to cope a bit in childhood. i was a child who was disliked by my father and loved by my mother. and i had that curious experience as a small child of realising this, of being well aware that my father didn't like me, and that my mother was my supporter and the person who loved me. your father was french and lived into his 90s.

yes. how did the relationship change? i think when he began to realise that i was a clever child. when he began to want to have a divorce from my mother, he spoke to the family doctor and said, you know, what about the children. she said, "well you don't need to worry about claire, but a she's very clever." this had never occurred to my father. he was always surprised. very surprised when i got into cambridge, very surprised when i got a first. he said, "that's all very well, you need secretarial training." i mean at my wedding to michael, when he was in his 90s to which he came, he said, "you never crease to surprise me, claire!" i began by asking you how difficult it had been to decide to do this and to write honestly about your own life, the difficulties, the joys

and the sadnesses, what was it like when you finished what did you you feel when you finally sent off that manuscript? i felt maybe i shouldn't plush this book and i hadn't written quite enough. and my very good editor, anita butterfield, wrote me a letter saying, "look, there are things you haven't said, there are things you haven't really said about writing your books and that matters." and she made me write some more. it was very good advice. are you happy you've done it? yes, i am happy i've done it. i mean, when i was young, andre doitch said to me, "you've had an interesting life, you should write a novel." but i said, "i'm not a novelist." but then i began to think but i have to a story to tell. everybody has a story to tell. your life is material, you know. even if, i mean you have to deal with everything, an affair with martin amis, which everyone would notice. my most famous affair. well, it was an office romance and it was very short and it was very delightful. and there we are. these are the things that make

up a fascinating life. thank you. claire tomalin, author of a life of my own, thank you very much. we have seen some pretty hefty showers across the british isles today but they are going to feed through this evening and it leaves us with a largely dry night, chilly enoughin us with a largely dry night, chilly enough in central and eastern areas for some fog patches and potentially some frost, probably not in the towns and cities but out in the country well down into single digits. the clouds thickened up in ireland and western scotland. through tomorrow that spread eastwards, much of the wet weather quite polite but the odds heavy burst. hefty showers in northern ireland and western areas and there could be deals in exposed coastal spot later in the day. monday and

tuesdayit spot later in the day. monday and tuesday it remains a pretty u nsettled. tuesday it remains a pretty unsettled. some spells of sunshine but heavy showers, blustery winds and a cool field. this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 6pm. hurricane irma pounds cuba with winds of more than 150 mph. the cuban authorities did try to move large numbers of people out of harm's way, but still many have been left, particularly in the central province, camaguey. we understand there are many thousands ever people there without power at the moment. as the casualty toll mounts, it's confirmed five people have been killed in the british virgin islands. as the storm approaches florida, nearly 6 million people have been told to leave their homes. if you've been ordered to evacuate, you need to leave now. do not wait. evacuate. not tonight, not in an hour, you need to go right now.

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