‘Nuclear hurricane’ is on its way, holidaymakers in Florida warned
Caribbean holiday island of Barbuda is flattened by Irma, leaving residents homeless and terrified
HOLIDAYMAKERS in Florida were warned last night they faced being hit by a “nuclear hurricane” as Britain announced it would make available £32million for relief efforts and send a second warship to the Caribbean.
HMS Ocean was to depart the Mediterranean carrying a number of heli- copters, joining RFA Mounts Bay, already in the region.
Theresa May said: “No one can fail to be affected by the absolutely desperate plight of people in the Caribbean who have been hit by Hurricane Irma.”
It came after criticism from some in Anguilla, the British overseas territory, that the UK response had been “sorely lacking”. Barbuda was reduced to rubble by 185mph winds and Irma also raged through St Martin and battered the British Virgin Islands, St Barts and Puerto Rico. Tourists in Florida’s Key West islands were ordered to evacuate before the storm hits at the weekend.
At least 13 people were confirmed to have died last night. The death toll was expected to rise.
In Miami Beach, Philip Levine, its mayor, said: “This is a nuclear hurricane. People must leave the beach.” Brock Long, head of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, said: “The entire southeastern United States better wake up and pay attention.” Donald Trump, the US president, said: “We are with the people of Florida.”
‘Barbuda now is literally rubble. It’s absolute devastation. The island is literally under water. Barbuda is barely habitable’
AS HURRICANE IRMA pulverised the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda, desperate families tried to hide their children in cupboards and prayed for deliverance as the walls and roofs of their homes flew away piece by piece.
The aftermath looked like a bomb had gone off, with swathes of buildings reduced to rubble, and survivors told how their lives were destroyed as they were pounded by the full force of Irma’s 185mph winds. In tears, Gloria Cethaf, a mother of six, told The Daily Telegraph: “I’ve lost everything. My home has been torn apart. Everything is gone. This is not my first hurricane but it’s the worst I’ve ever experienced.
“The kitchen came apart, then the roof came off, and we had to spend the night outside in the wilderness. We called out but no one heard us. We need to get off this island. Everyone is homeless, we don’t have anything to ride out the next storm.”
At the airport, the roof had come down and the area was littered with mangled debris. With the majority of the 1,600 islanders homeless, many gathered in pouring rain at the airport hoping to get to Antigua. One woman screamed: “There should be a mandatory evacuation.”
A sand barrier had been breached, leaving part of the island under water, and a luxury resort had been devastated. Vegetation was charred, suggesting a fire broke out as the hurricane hit. As rescue workers arrived, they warned debris would become flying missiles if Barbuda was hit by Hurricane Jose, following in Irma’s wake.
Jacqueline Beazer, a Barbudan, said: “It was devastating. I was at my parents’ house and the back door blew in, so we ran to the community centre, which was a shelter, and it was packed.
“Then the community centre was destroyed, so I went to my friend’s house but it was completely gone. My business, my bakery, gone. It’s too much to handle.”
Another Barbudan woman added: “It was like a horror movie. People ran from house to house, we had cars flying over our heads. We had 40ft containers flying left and right, people were tying themselves to their roofs with ropes to keep them down.”
Around 90 per cent of the buildings were damaged, said Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He added: “Barbuda now is literally rubble. It’s absolute devastation. The island is under water. As it stands now, Barbuda is barely habitable. This is like having a bomb thrown on a city.”
A two-year-old child was confirmed dead on the island, having perished as a family tried to escape the onslaught.
Two British sisters were also stranded on Barbuda and their family in the UK had not heard from them.
Afiya Frank, 27, who is due to give birth in November, was supposed to travel back to the UK next week.
Her sister Asha Frank, 29, an ecological expert and former beauty queen, was also there to help with marine conservation efforts. Their aunt, Ruth Bolton, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, said the family was “out of their minds” with worry. She added: “We have been in touch with a boat that is attempting to reach Barbuda and they have offered to take a satellite phone with them.” Barbuda was only the first island to be hammered as Irma left at least 13 dead on its devastating march west.
At Robert De Niro’s beachfront home on the island, Irma had ripped off the roof. In a statement, De Niro said: “We are beyond saddened to learn of the devastation in Barbuda.” The Oscar-wining star said he looked forward to working with “the entire Barbuda community to successfully rebuild what nature has taken away from us”.
The luxury Coco Point resort had most of its 400 palm trees knocked over. Also ravaged was St Barts, a playground for the rich and famous including Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Hanks, and where Roman Abramovich has a home.
Badly damaged, too, was Eden Rock Hotel, which is owned by Pippa Middleton’s parents-in-law. She and husband James Matthews have holidayed at the resort. The Queen said in a statement: “Prince Philip and I have been shocked and saddened by the reports of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed or adversely affected by this terrible storm.”
A promising young professional surfer died in Barbados while riding a
swell generated by the hurricane. Zander Venezia, 16, reportedly fell off his board and hit a shallow reef at a beach called Box by Box.
In Puerto Rico, more than half the population of three million were left without power, and rivers broke their banks in the centre and north of the island. Britons on holiday there were forced to sleep on mattresses in the theatre building of a hotel.
Three US navy ships were anchored off the coast to help.
One of the worst-affected areas was St Martin, where huge shipping containers were tossed around like matchsticks, boats were hurled on to land, trees ripped up and roofs destroyed.
The island’s Princess Juliana Airport, and the harbour, suffered destruction and mobile telephone and electricity networks were knocked out. It was not immediately known whether Le Chateau des Palmiers, Donald Trump’s $17 million (£13 million) retreat in St Martin, had sustained damage.
Paul de Windt, one of 80,000 people on the island, said: “People are just wandering aimlessly as they have no homes any more and don’t know what to do.” Daniel Gibbs, a local official, said: “It’s an enormous catastrophe, 95 per cent of the island is destroyed.”
St Martin has Dutch and French sections. The Dutch navy sent two ships and France said 100,000 packages of combat rations were en route, along with 200 French troops and medics, and a transport plane. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was to go to the region “as soon as possible”.
Josephine Gumbs-conner, a lawyer from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, home to 13,000 people, said: “Anguilla is utterly devastated. You would think that it just suffered a nuclear bomb. I am truly disappointed [with the UK]. I anticipated that given our relationship with the UK, they would have done like our French neighbours on St Martin, who made sure they had military on the ground so the response given is timely, effective and helpful for people.”
Two nuclear power plants in Florida were being shut down as the state braced for the storm. Florida Power & Light said it would close the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants, which are both on the Atlantic coast.