Minister views apocalyptic scenes of horror on hurricane-hit islands

HURRICANE-BATTERED BRITISH overseas territories look “apocalyptic” and like “something out of a horror movie”, the International Development Secretary has said.

Priti Patel was on a whistlestop tour of the Caribbean as she announced a £5m pledge of UK aid to help Dominica, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria earlier this week.

On Sunday she visited the British Virgin Island of Jost Van Dyke and then Anguilla to survey the level of devastation caused when they were pummelled by Hurricane Irma which left 102 dead in the Caribbean and US.

“The scene is like something out of a horror movie, very apocalyptic,” she said when describing her first impressions of some of the damage.

“And when you look at the landscape as well, we have seen decimation of all green vegetation, everything has gone. It is very stark.”

She began the trip, which Ms Patel said she was “adamant” to undertake, with a visit to HMS Ocean. The helicopter carrier and amphibious assault ship arrived on Friday packed with 60 tonnes of UK aid.

After inspecting the cargo of shelter kits, tools, vehicles, building materials and buckets packed into the hangar, she toured the rest of the ship with the captain, Robert Pedre. Ms Patel then took a helicopter over to the British Virgin Island of Jost Van Dyke, and after speaking with those affected told a gathered crowd that “we are so with you”.

“The scale of what has happened is just extraordinary and unprecedented,” Ms Patel said of what she saw.

There are over 2,000 UK military personnel currently working on the relief effort, the largest deployment of UK personnel anywhere in the world.