Hurricane Irma Leaves Devastation Of 'Epic Proportions' In Caribbean : The Two
Irma
Hurricane Irma Leaves Devastation Of 'Epic Proportions' In Caribbean
A string of tiny Caribbean islands have been left stunned and devastated by the destructive force of  Hurricane Irma   one of the strongest storms ever to hit the region. Some islands appear to have been spared  but others suffered loss of life and damage on a near-apocalyptic scale.
In Barbuda  communications were severed as  Irma  made landfall just before midnight on Tuesday. Antigua  25 miles to the south  dodged the full force of the storm  prompting Prime Minister Gaston Browne at first to declare it a miracle that his nation had been spared.
"I journeyed to Barbuda this afternoon and what I saw was heart-wrenching  absolutely devastating " Browne said on state-owned television Wednesday afternoon. "In fact  I believe that on a per capita basis  the extent of the destruction in Barbuda is unprecedented. And it is unprecedented  based on the type of storm. Hurricane Irma would have been easily the most powerful hurricane to have stormed through the Caribbean  and it is extremely unfortunate that Barbuda was right in its path."
Some six hours later  Irma smashed into St. Martin  about 60 miles northwest of Barbuda. The island was directly in the storm's path  and the half-French  half-Dutch island suffered horrendously as a result.
North of St. Martin  the low-lying British island of Anguilla took what U.K. Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan described as the full force of Irma.
The British and U.S. Virgin Islands  popular tourist and charter boat destinations  were next in the path of Hurricane Irma. The outer bands of the approaching storm began to lash the islands early Wednesday afternoon.
"We are very grateful to be able to report that all of our team on Island have been accounted for as safe as well. Necker Island felt the effects of  Hurricane Irma  and sustained extensive damage  the extent of which we are still assessing."
Although Irma passed just north of Puerto Rico  sparing it a full-on hit from the storm  the island's precarious electrical infrastructure couldn't withstand the glancing blow. More than 1 million Puerto Ricans were reportedly without electricity.
Like the Dominican Republic  Haiti is only getting a sideswipe from  Irma   but unlike its neighbor on the island of Hispaniola  the land in French-speaking Haiti has been largely denuded of trees  leaving it especially vulnerable to landslides and flooding from heavy rains.
"It looks like Haiti won't get a direct hit from  Irma   and that's fortunate because the country is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Matthew  which wiped out the country nearly a year ago " said Hervil Cherubin  country director for Heifer International  a nonprofit working with 15 000 farming families across Haiti.
Hurricane Irma Leaves Devastation Of 'Epic Proportions' In Caribbean
A string of tiny Caribbean islands have been left stunned and devastated by the destructive force of  [TGT]. Some islands appear to have been spared  but others suffered loss of life and damage on a near-apocalyptic scale.
In Barbuda  communications were severed as  [TGT]made landfall just before midnight on Tuesday. Antigua  25 miles to the south  dodged the full force of the storm  prompting Prime Minister Gaston Browne at first to declare it a miracle that his nation had been spared.
"I journeyed to Barbuda this afternoon and what I saw was heart-wrenching  absolutely devastating " Browne said on state-owned television Wednesday afternoon. "In fact  I believe that on a per capita basis  the extent of the destruction in Barbuda is unprecedented. And it is unprecedented  based on the type of storm. [TGT] would have been easily the most powerful hurricane to have stormed through the Caribbean  and [TGT] is extremely unfortunate that Barbuda was right in its path."
Some six hours later  [TGT] smashed into St. Martin  about 60 miles northwest of Barbuda. The island was directly in the storm's path  and the half-French  half-Dutch island suffered horrendously as a result.
North of St. Martin  the low-lying British island of Anguilla took what U.K. Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan described as the full force of [TGT].
The British and U.S. Virgin Islands  popular tourist and charter boat destinations  were next in the path of [TGT]. The outer bands of the approaching storm began to lash the islands early Wednesday afternoon.
"We are very grateful to be able to report that all of our team on Island have been accounted for as safe as well. Necker Island felt the effects of [TGT]and sustained extensive damage  the extent of which we are still assessing."
Although [TGT] passed just north of Puerto Rico  sparing it a full-on hit from the storm  the island's precarious electrical infrastructure couldn't withstand the glancing blow. More than 1 million Puerto Ricans were reportedly without electricity.
Like the Dominican Republic  Haiti is only getting a sideswipe from  Irma   but unlike its neighbor on the island of Hispaniola  the land in French-speaking Haiti has been largely denuded of trees  leaving it especially vulnerable to landslides and flooding from heavy rains.
"It looks like Haiti won't get a direct hit from  Irma   and that's fortunate because the country is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Matthew  which wiped out the country nearly a year ago " said Hervil Cherubin  country director for Heifer International  a nonprofit working with 15 000 farming families across Haiti.