Aid sent to Caribbean
Hurricane inflicts severe damage, looks poised to hit Florida on weekend
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — French, British and Dutch rescuers rushed aid to a string of Caribbean islands Thursday after Hurricane Irma left at least seven dead and thousands homeless as it traced a course that could lead to a catastrophic strike on Florida this weekend.
Warships and military planes were dispatched to the stricken zone with food, water and troops after the fearsome Category 5 storm smashed homes, schools and roads.
Meanwhile, Florida braced for the onslaught, with forecasters warning Irma could slam into the Miami metropolitan area, punish the entire length of the state’s Atlantic coast and push on into Georgia and South Carolina.
Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people in the Florida Keys and in exposed or low-lying parts of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area as Irma closed in with winds of 281 km/h.
By early Thursday afternoon, the hurricane was north of the Dominican Republic, where authorities reported some flooding and the evacuation of several thousand locals and tourists but no serious damage or casualties. Skies over the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were still clear just after noon local time. About a million people were without power in Puerto Rico after Irma sideswiped the island, but there were no immediate reports of large-scale casualties.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said four people were confirmed dead and about 50 injured on the French side of St. Martin, an island split between Dutch and French control. The toll could rise because rescue teams had yet to get a complete look at the damage.
Three more deaths were reported on the British island of Anguilla, independent Barbuda and the Dutch side of St. Martin.
The French island of St. Barts also got slammed, as Irma tore off roofs and knocked out electricity.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said 100,000 food rations were sent to St. Barts and St. Martin, the equivalent of four days of supplies.
“It’s a tragedy. We’ll need to rebuild both islands,” he said. “Most of the schools have been destroyed.”
Photos and video of St. Martin circulating on social media showed major damage to the Philipsburg airport and heavy flooding in the coastal village of Marigot.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the storm “caused widescale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses.”
“There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are underwater, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark, in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world,” he said.
Irma, the most potent Atlantic Ocean hurricane recorded, appeared increasingly likely to rip into heavily populated South Florida early Sunday.
People rushed to board up their homes, take their boats out of the water and gas up their cars. With gasoline running out and tensions mounting, the Florida Highway Patrol escorted tanker trucks sent to replenish gas stations.
“It is wider than our entire state and could cause major and lifethreatening impacts from coast to coast. Regardless of which coast you live on, be prepared to evacuate,” Gov. Rick Scott said.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he would go to the islands as soon as the weather permits it. Saying he was “griefstricken,” Macron called for concerted efforts to tackle global warming to prevent similar natural disasters.
A Dutch navy ship arrived in St. Martin with vital supplies. And two Dutch military aircraft were being sent the island of Curacao and on to St. Martin to deliver food and water intended to last the population of 40,000 five days. The aircraft were carrying 100 extra troops to deliver aid, repair infrastructure and restore order.
Britain was sending hundreds of troops and the Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean to Anguilla, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands.
In Anguilla, officials reported extensive damage to the airport, hospitals, shelters and schools and said 90 per cent of roads were impassable.
On Barbuda, nearly every building was damaged when the hurricane’s core crossed almost directly over the island early Wednesday. About 60 per cent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.
“It is just really a horrendous situation,” Browne said.
A two-year-old child was killed as a family tried to escape a damaged home during the storm, Browne said.
More than half the island of Puerto Rico was without power, leaving more 900,000 in the dark and nearly 50,000 without water, the U.S. territory’s emergency management agency said. Fourteen hospitals were using generators after losing power, and trees and light poles were strewn across roads.
U.S. President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, allowing federal agencies to step in and provide aid.