America’s £30bn relief bill after Irma carnage
AMERICA’S huge rebuilding operation was under way last night after Hurricane Irma brought devastation to Florida, killing at least five people.
Two-thirds of the state is without power after the brutal storm wreaked havoc.
Up to 10,000 people remain stuck in the Florida Keys islands, with more deaths expected to be confirmed.
Insurance analysts have put the cost of the storm so far as high as £30billion.
The US Air Force was due to land food and water along the Keys yesterday.
Officials said the aid was needed to avoid a “humanitarian crisis”.
The eye of the hurricane passed over Cudjoe Key in the Lower Keys on Sunday with the storm rated as Category 4 with 130mph winds and a 15ft storm surge.
Curfew
More than 24 hours later, some parts were still under 5ft of water and large channels of the sea surrounded homes.
An NBC television news crew which flew overhead said that some properties had been “completely obliterated” by the tornadoes.
Police blocked the only highway into the Keys and put the entire 110-mile peninsula under a “dusk till dawn” curfew to stop looting.
First responders flew out on C-130 military cargo planes flown by the Air Force, with the help of the National Guard.
Officials went from door to door to see if the estimated 10,000 people who defied a mandatory evacuation order needed help. Roman Gastesi, administrator for Monroe County, which encompasses the Keys, said he is “prepared for the worst” and that Cudjoe Key was “ground zero” for the storm.
He said: “This is the cost of living in paradise. Now we start the process of rebuilding our community.”
Wildlife experts were also concerned for the 1,000 deer that live in the Keys and fear they could have been swept out to their deaths.
Throughout Florida, some 6.2 million people have been left with no electricity, with warnings that it could take months for power to return.
Parts of Miami remain underwater after Sunday’s devastating flooding. Irma had been expected to cause carnage in the cities of Naples, Fort Myers and Tampa on the west coast of Florida, but they escaped with flooding and few injuries.
Instead, the storm veered east and brought flash flooding to areas that were not expecting to get hit, including Jacksonville, where rivers burst their banks.
In Daytona Beach, 25 people were rescued from flooding as storms reached the city.
Irma was downgraded to a tropical storm as it went further north into Georgia but it still left 100,000 people in the state without power. The hurricane’s death toll includes a female sheriff’s deputy and a prison officer, who were killed in a car crash caused by the onslaught.
Miami international airport and Fort Lauderdale airport remain closed until at least today due to the extensive damage.
US President Donald Trump yesterday said that Irma has been a storm of “catastrophic intensity”.
He said: “When Americans are in need, Americans pull together. And we are one country.
“And when we face hardship we emerge, closer, stronger and more determined than ever.”