Don't forget: Irma hit U.S. Virgin Islands, too

The media’s wall-to-wall coverage of Hurricane Irma in St. Martin and Florida has largely ignored the United States Virgin Islands completely. As one victim put it, St. Thomas and surrounding islands are completely “decimated.”

With little attention to the devastation, these islanders feel abandoned. Mary Anne Steele lives on St. John and is a mom of two who rode out the storm with her young boys and husband. They lost everything, including their home, which Irma just pummelled. Now on St. Croix, she called into Boston Herald Radio.

“I don’t think the Virgin Islands have seen destruction on this level,” she said.

Massachusetts residents with ties to St. John have set up a Facebook page to give updates and raise money for the victims. It is called Love City LemonAide. They have a fundraiser this Saturday in Boxford, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 531 Main St., with a bake sale and collection of donated goods for the St. John Rescue, an emergency services agency, and the St. John Animal Care Center.

Steele and her island friends had worried they would be forgotten.

“That is a fear all of us had even before the storm hit. We are kind of like the forgotten territory . ... It is not like Florida or Texas where people drive from Kentucky and bring supplies and help.”

Steele is proud of how her sons handled this nightmare.

“When the roof blew off there was a lot of crying and they were very scared while we were under a mattress for a couple of hours and the water was rising, but other than that they have been amazing.”

Meanwhile, Katrina Bergman, a Massachusetts resident, went to St. Thomas ahead of the storm to help the dogs and cats who have been separated from their owners.

“The conditions are horrendous,” Bergman said.

“The island has been completely decimated. It feels like we’re forgotten. The Virgin Islands are apart of the United States. Folks are waiting out in the sun for three and four hours to get water.”

She claims there are at least 100 dogs sitting in crates filled with urine and another 100 cats living in similar conditions. She is begging for FEMA to come and rescue these animals.

Nearly all 100,000 residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands have been impacted. Country star Kenny Chesney famously has written several songs about the island and lost his home to the hurricane. He’s been able to bring some attention to the island.