Nations rush to help islands slammed by Irma
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — French, British and Dutch military authorities rushed aid to a devastated string of Caribbean islands after Hurricane Irma left at least 11 people dead and thousands homeless as it spun toward Florida for what could be a catastroph- ic blow this weekend.
Warships and planes were dispatched Thursday with food, water and troops after the fearsome Category 5 storm smashed homes, schools and roads, laying waste to some of the world’s most beautiful and exclusive tourist destinations.
Hundreds of miles to the west, Florida braced for the onslaught, with forecasters warning that Irma could slam headlong into
the Miami metropolitan area of 6 million people, punish the entire length of the state’s Atlantic Coast and move into Georgia and South Carolina.
More than a half-million people in Miami-Dade County were ordered to leave as Irma closed in with winds of 175 m.p.h. (281 kph).
“Take it seriously, because this is the real deal,” said Maj. Jeremy DeHart, a U.S. Air Force Reserve weather officer who flew through the eye of Irma at 10,000 feet.
The hurricane was still north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday evening, sweeping those Hispaniola nations with high winds and rain while also battering the Turks & Caico islands on its other side.
Authorities on Hispaniola reported some flooding and building damage but no deaths. Big waves smashed a dozen homes into rubble in the Dominican fishing community of Nagua, but work crews said all the residents had left before the storm. About a million people were without power in Puerto Rico after Irma side-swiped the island overnight, and nearly half the territory’s hospitals were relying on generators. No injuries were reported.
The first islands hit by the storm were scenes of terrible destruction.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said four people were confirmed dead and about 50 injured on the French side of St. Martin, an island split between Dutch and French control.
At least four people were killed in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and officials said they expected to find more bodies. Authorities described the damage as catastrophic.
Three more deaths were reported on the British island of Anguilla, independent Barbuda and the Dutch side of St. Martin. Irma also slammed the French island of St. Barts, tearing off roofs and knocking out electricity.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said 100,000 food rations were sent to St. Barts and St. Martin, the equivalent of four days of supplies.
“It’s a tragedy. We’ll need to rebuild both islands,” he said.
Photos and video of St. Martin circulating on social media showed major damage to the Philipsburg airport and heavy flooding in the coastal village of Marigot. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the storm “caused wide-scale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses.”
“There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are under water, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world,” he said.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Gov. Kenneth Mapp said the U.S. military was sending troops to aid relief efforts. The primary focus for now is “making sure people have meals, water and shelter,” Mapp said. “An event of this magnitude is very chilling.”