WINDS RIPPED BABY FROM WOMAN’S ARMS.
Hurricane Irma has left a ravaged string of Caribbean resort islands strewn with splintered lumber, corrugated metal, broken concrete and at least 21 people killed with the death toll expected to rise significantly.
CUBA
The hurricane spun along the northern coast of Cuba, where tens of thousands of people were being moved to safety, including thousands of tourists along a shoreline dotted with all-inclusive resorts.
HAITI
Irma passed further o the coast of Haiti than some had predicted, and very preliminary indications suggested the hit had perhaps not been as bad as feared. Nevertheless, there were indications of severe damage in some communities. Houses in Malfeti, a municipality of several thousand near the northeastern city of Fort Liberty, were flooded “until the roofs,” according to Fort Liberty Mayor Louis Jacques Etienne. Etienne dubbed Irma a “nuclear hurricane.” He added, “Crops are destroyed, cattle is dead, and my cities are broken. It is bad. Very very bad.”
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The civil defense director, General Rafael Carrasco, said at least 2,721 homes have been damaged. The government said nearly 7,000 people had been evacuated from their homes, and 7,400 tourists had been moved from beachside hotels in Bavaro, Puerto Plata and Samana to the capital, Santo Domingo.
TURKS AND CAICOS
Hit with waves as high as seix metres. Communications went down as the storm slammed into the islands, and the extent of the devastation was not immediately clear.
PUERTO RICO
Irma knocked out nearly half of the 1,600 cellphone towers on the financially strained island, leaving many residents without service. More than one million people lost power. The island’s power authority had warned before the storm that damage could leave some neighbourhoods without electricity for up to six months because of precarious infrastructure.
ST MARTIN
Photos and videos from St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, also known as St. Barts, showed buildings in ruin and cars and trucks almost submerged in the storm surge. “Everything is a disaster, total devastation,” Dieter Schaede said by telephone from St. Martin. “Roofs down, houses totally flown away, wiped out.” Witnesses said supermarkets were being looted, with no police visible in the streets; France’s minister for overseas territories, Annick Girardin, even described “scenes of pillaging” on the island. “It’s like someone with a lawn mower from the sky has gone over the island,” said Marilou Rohan, a European vacationer on the Dutch side of St. Martin.
HURRICANE JOSE
The National Hurricane Center cautioned that Hurricane Jose is strengthening as it churns toward the Leeward Islands, which are expected to see more damaging winds and rain over the weekend. O cials on Friday sounded the alarm - yet again - in an urgent midday bulletin, announcing: “JOSE NOW AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE.” Hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings were in e ect for Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Barts and St. Martin. “I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to know that further damage is imminent,” said Inspector Frankie Thomas of the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda.
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
About 95 percent of the tiny island sustained some damage or was outright destroyed. When Craig Ryan, a 29-year-old tourism entrepreneur who lives in Antigua, reached Barbuda by boat, residents lined the beach waiting for rescue. “It’s such a level of devastation,” he said, “that you can’t even see structures standing.”