Irma’s trail of destruction
Hurricane Irma, the most powerful ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, swept through the Caribbean and into the United States last week, leaving a trail of destruction behind it. The storm, which reached peak intensity in the middle of last week with sustained winds of more than 185mph, killed at least 55 people, and caused damage expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars. The islands of the northeast Caribbean were worst hit, among them the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, another British overseas territory. Nearby Barbuda was left “barely habitable”, according to its prime minister Gaston Browne; 90% of structures on the island were destroyed. There were similar levels of damage on the French island of St Barts and on St Martin, which is split between Dutch and French control.
Last Friday, Irma raked the north coast of Cuba, where it killed at least ten people, before making landfall in Florida
on Sunday, where an astonishing 6.3 million people had been evacuated to shelters and safe areas both inside and outside the state. The Florida Keys bore the brunt of the storm: 25% of homes in the low-lying archipelago were destroyed, and 65% were damaged. But Irma had weakened, from a maximum category five to a category three storm, by the time it reached the Florida mainland. Its path also avoided Miami and the heavily developed Atlantic seaboard. Nevertheless, heavy rain and storm surges brought flooding in Miami and Jacksonville, and some 60% of homes in Florida were left without power.
The UK Government allocated £32m in aid to the British territories affected, and 1,250 troops were deployed from warships to help with the relief effort and to maintain order; around 100 “very serious” prisoners escaped from jail on the British Virgin Islands. The UK response was criticised by the shadow foreign minister Emily Thornberry as “too little and too late”. On both French Saint-martin and Dutch Sint Maarten, widespread looting was reported, in the face of severe food and water shortages. The territories’ respective governments stepped up their relief efforts in response.