Richard Branson is having a big sleepover party on his private island as Hurricane Irma approaches

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September 6, 2017 3:54 PM

Sir Richard Branson will ride out Hurricane Irma in his wine cellar. He doesn't expect there to be much wine left when the storm is over.

A day after announcing his plan to ride out Hurricane Irma on Necker Island, Sir Richard Branson provided a status update on Wednesday via his blog on Virgin Group's website.

"We have just experienced a night of howling wind and rain as Hurricane Irma edges ever closer towards us on Necker and the British Virgin Islands," Branson wrote.

"The atmosphere is eerie but beautiful. Everyone is willing the eye of the storm to veer away from the BVI in these last few hours."

According to Branson, the storm is expected to hit his private island within a matter of hours. The Virgin Group chairman said the island's occupants would ride out the brunt of the storm inside his wine cellar.

"We are expecting to get the full force of the hurricane in around five hours' time, when we will retreat to a concrete wine cellar under the Great House," Branson said. "Knowing our wonderful team as I do, I suspect there will be little wine left in the cellar when we all emerge."

The billionaire entrepreneur noted the unprecedented strength of the storm, with its winds topping 185 mph, and expressed his concern for the well-being of everyone in Irma's path.

Thus far, Branson and his team on Necker Island spent the night in summer-camp-style bunk beds. The group passed the time by playing dice games like Perudo and observing the wildlife on the island.

"All of us slept together in two rooms. I haven't had a sleepover quite like it since I was a kid," Branson wrote. "We were listening to the parrots in their boxes in the next room chattering away. Watching the tortoises congregating together, as if they sense what is coming our way."

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