Tourist island braces for second powerful hurricane
ST. MARTIN (AFP) — Battered and weary after being pummelled by Hurricane Irma, terrified residents of St. Martin on Saturday awaited an unprecedented second monster storm bearing down on already devastated Caribbean islands.
“Return to the safest shelters before the hurricane arrives, and avoid areas which could flood,” police in the French part of St. Martin pleaded, only three days after it was ravaged by Irma.
Jose, a Category Four storm, will bring heavy rains and winds of 130 to 150 kilometers an hour, meteorologists said.
But it may give islanders some relief and veer about 100 kilometers to the North of St Martin and St. Barts when it hits later Saturday.
Many on the once paradise island of St. Martin divided between France and The Netherlands will be wondering where to go.
Irma left at least 12 dead and hundreds injured across the island, and with the cleanup barely begun, authorities are struggling to get aid to the stricken population.
Across the island — a popular tourist destination known for its vibrant nightlife and pristine beaches — roofs were ripped off, windows blown out, cars and boats tossed about like matchsticks and palm trees uprooted by Irma when it barrelled through on Wednesday.
Debris still clogs the streets, many homes have been left uninhabitable, communications have not been fully restored, and tens of thousands are already without power, food and water.
It was “an illusion” that islanders could prepare properly for Jose’s arrival, said Dutch Navy commander Peter Jan de Vin.
“Everything that is loose and lying around and which can be picked up by the winds and thrown around is a projectile that can injure or kill,” he told the Dutch daily NRC newspaper, urging people to seek shelter.
Seventy per cent of the infrastructure on the southern Dutch part, known as Sint Maarten, was destroyed by Irma, according to Dutch officials.
At the only fully operational airport in the French north, exhausted women including one with a baby born just hours previously, children and the elderly waited hoping for flights out to nearby Guadeloupe or even mainland France.
Amid reports of looting, French and Dutch troops have also fanned out across the island seeking to restore order.
“The atmosphere is grim. People are walking around with weapons, but I can’t confirm there are machetes,” De Vin said.
But he insisted that Dutch troops were “getting more of a grip on the situation.”
One Dutch holidaymaker told the tabloid De Telegraaf though that he and about 50 guests had barricaded themselves into their hotel in the town of Philipsburg, claiming there were armed gangs on the streets.