Long cleanup ahead
France’s president and the Dutch king visited Caribbean territories on Tuesday that were hammered by Hurricane Irma, bringing in muchneeded food, water and medical supplies amid accusations that European governments had been unprepared, slow to react and sometimes even racist in their responses to the devastation.
The visit came as residents tried to revive a sense of normalcy amid the chaos and destruction wrought by the Category 5 hurricane with small gestures like sharing radios and rescuing dogs.
The Dutch Red Cross said more than 200 people were still listed as missing on St. Maarten, but with communications extremely spotty a week after the storm hit, it wasn’t clear how many were simply without cell service and power and unable to let friends and family know they had survived.
The organization said 90 per cent of buildings on the Dutch territory were damaged and a third destroyed as Irma roared across the island it shares with French St. Martin.
Yogesh Bodha, a 37-year-old jewelry store employee, criticized the slow response from the home government. “They should’ve been more organized than they were,” he said. “We have not received any food or water. They say it’s on its way. Let’s see.”
Liseth Echevarria, a bartender in St. Maarten, offered whatever she could to family, strangers and abandoned pets, and said and those around her were doing the same.
The manager of a marina next door threw over a hose so that Echevarria and her husband could have a semblance of an outdoor shower. He also offered them a temporary power connection from his generator so they could charge phones and listen to the sole radio station still broadcasting.
“This is the only communication that St. Maarten has with the world right now,” the 27-year-old said.
It was thanks to that radio station that she found out about a flight for Latin Americans stuck in St. Maarten. She rushed to the airport with her brother, who was evacuating back to Colombia. As she dropped him off, Echevarria saw a Yorkshire terrier tied to a metal barricade, abandoned by a passenger fleeing the island and told they couldn’t bring pets on the plane.
Echevarria scooped up the dog and brought him home to meet her three other dogs, including one rescued from a neighbour’s property. The neighbour fled with her son after the hurricane destroyed their home.
French President Emmanuel Macron flew into Guadeloupe on Tuesday before heading to hard-hit St. Martin, where he met in debrislittered streets with residents. He was accompanied by doctors and teams of experts who were to help lead the recovery effort.
“The situation is very critical,” he told the residents. “What I want to do is to have a very fast recovery, so we are trying to fix the situation regarding health, education, access to water, energy and telecom.” He said he hoped changes would be noticeable by week’s end.
Macron said 11 people were killed in St. Martin, while another four people died on the Dutch side of the island, bringing the death toll in the Caribbean to at least 37.
At an airport news conference before departing for St. Martin, Macron said the government’s “top priority” was to help island residents return to normal life.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who arrived in St. Maarten on Monday, said the scenes of devastation were the worst he had ever seen.
In Florida, search-and-rescue teams made their way into the Florida Keys’ farthest reaches Tuesday, while authorities rushed to repair the lone highway connecting the islands. Federal officials estimated one-quarter of all homes in the Keys were destroyed.
The number of deaths blamed on Irma in Florida climbed to 12, in addition to four in South Carolina and two in Georgia.