POINTE-À-PITRE,
Guadeloupe — As communications started to be restored to the
storm-ravaged islands of the Caribbean, five deaths were …
POINTE-À-PITRE,
Guadeloupe — As communications started to be restored to the
storm-ravaged islands of the Caribbean, five deaths were reported from
the British Virgin Islands, raising the toll across the Caribbean to 25
people as the islands braced for yet another storm set to strike as
early as Saturday afternoon.
The
new hurricane, Jose, is expected to wreak less damage than Hurricane
Irma, whose passage through the eastern Caribbean left a wake of
destruction that could take years to settle, leveling 90 percent of the
buildings on some islands. But it has created a new problem in an
already troubled recovery effort: The impending storm has halted all aid
to the most affected areas because of safety concerns.
That
will leave thousands of people who are already stranded and stripped of
their possessions waiting several more days for much-needed aid. And
officials worry that the number of dead could rise, as the full extent
of the devastation becomes known.
“I’ve
been working in the Caribbean for 10 years, and this is the first time I
have seen a situation like this,” said Raphael Hamoir, the emergency
coordinator for the French Red Cross in the region. “We are talking
about existing devastation from a Category 5 hurricane, and right as we
are starting the relief operation, we have another hurricane coming.”
Residents
and visitors to the islands of St. Martin and St. Barthélemy were left
stranded by the storm. Many are in need of food and water, roads have
yet to be cleared and power is out across much of the area.
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It could be days before rescue workers can fully assess the extent of the aid needed — and losses inflicted — by both storms.
“That
is not only stopping all of the work we began in the last few days,”
Mr. Hamoir said, referring to Hurricane Jose. “It means we will have to
start everything over again in three days.”
Across
a band of the Caribbean islands, aid workers had been racing to get
supplies to populations stripped of practically everything. By early
Saturday, in a rare bit of good news, it looked as if some of the
hardest hit islands, like Antigua and Barbuda, would avoid the worst of
Jose, as the storm’s course looked set to bypass them.
The
United States Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, along with
Antigua, dropped their hurricane warnings to tropical storm watches,
while Barbuda and Anguilla downgraded their warnings by Saturday
afternoon.
St.
Martin and St. Barthélemy two of the islands ravaged by Irma, also
downgraded their hurricane warnings to a tropical storm watch by
Saturday evening. The National Hurricane Center still expected two to four inches of rain to fall on the area.
The
full damage from Irma has not yet been calculated, but the early
estimates are grim: The islands of St. Martin and St. Barthélemy, were
approximately 80 to 90 percent destroyed; for Antigua, Barbuda and
Anguilla, the figures are similar.
On the island of St. Barthélemy, from where little news had emerged in recent days, some hope emerged late on Saturday.
“People
here are working wonderfully together to help each other out,” said
Arun Inam, 54, who lives on the island part time. “Strength, support and
kindness is on full display in the streets.”
“I had the option of leaving,” he added, “but decided to stay out of support for my friends that live here.”
In
Cuba, Hurricane Irma caused widespread damage on Friday night when the
eye of the storm passed directly north of the provinces of Camagüey and
Ciego de Ávila in the central part of the island. The authorities have
not yet made a substantive announcement about the extent of the damage
to the area, where more than 50 hotels and resorts generate significant
revenue for a nation that is short of cash.
Damage
to these resorts, along with heavy agricultural losses and
reconstruction costs elsewhere in the country, will be a major economic
strain on the country.
Residents
woke up Saturday morning to see whole houses destroyed, and roofs
ripped off warehouses. The few images trickling in, however, suggest
that the destruction in Cuba is not as cataclysmic as it is on islands
elsewhere in the Caribbean.
The
island of Guadeloupe, which was spared by Hurricane Irma, has become a
staging ground for aid efforts, with hundreds of largely French rescue
workers using it as an operational hub.
The
French relief operation has been one of starts and, for now, stops, but
efforts to help those on the British Virgin Islands have only just
begun. Interviews with a half-dozen people trapped on the island of
Tortola, home to about 25,000 people, offer a snapshot of desperation.
Buildings
were leveled, once lush and verdant hillsides were reduced to barren
stumps and roads were washed away. Several residents reported that
people were scavenging food and water from shops on some of the islands.
At
least five deaths have been reported, according to Gus Japsert,
governor of the British Virgin Islands. He urged citizens to take the
incoming storm seriously.
“The communities are pulling together and supporting each other,” he said in a phone interview.
The
British government said it had sent 20 tons of aid to the affected
areas, including shelter kits and solar lanterns, aboard a naval ship
that has already arrived in the British Virgin Islands.
Catherine
Clayton, whose family owns a hotel in Josiah’s Bay, said 25 people,
including neighbors whose homes were destroyed, were sheltering in the
two rooms that were still habitable in the eight-room Tamarind Hotel.
By Saturday morning, there had been no aid deliveries to her portion of the island.
“We have enough fresh water for all of us to survive for two weeks, if we ration,” she said. “Same for food.”
In
the United States Virgin Islands, the death toll has reached four, so
far. But communications remain spotty there. Many suspect that the
number of dead will climb.
Residents
worry that with attention turning to Florida, where Hurricane Irma will
make landfall on Sunday, those living on the devastated islands will be
forgotten.
“The
fear has always been, if we have a hit like what we have now, and the
U.S. gets a serious hit, we will be completely forgotten,” said Brigitte
Berry, whose family hails from St. Thomas.
For now, many islanders feel trapped.
“We can’t get into a car and drive out of here,” she said. “And all of the boats have been destroyed.”
While
Hurricane Jose is not expected to strike the British Virgin Islands or
the United States Virgin Islands, other islands that will be directly
affected by the second storm are bracing for the worst.
Eze
Egwuatu was vacationing on St. Martin when Hurricane Irma hit, tearing
the roof off the house he was staying in. As Hurricane Jose approached
the island on Saturday, Mr. Egwuatu sheltered with friends at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten, on the Dutch side of the island.
“The
military already came this morning and evacuated 50 women and
children,” Mr. Egwuatu said, via text message, from the shelter on
Saturday. “We are just holed up at the shelter waiting for evacuation.”
The
university, as well as the rest of the island, is still working to
determine how stranded students and members of the community will be
evacuated once Hurricane Jose passes.
“There
is obvious and growing concern about the evacuation, and I want to
address those concerns,” wrote Dr. Heidi Chumley, dean of the
university, in a message
on the school’s website. “They are different options, but each has its
own challenges including, as you know, a closed airport, very difficult
seas and another approaching hurricane.”
Across
the Caribbean another storm, Hurricane Katia, made landfall in Mexico’s
Gulf Coast state of Veracruz early Saturday and caused two deaths,
according to the state’s governor, Miguel Ángel Yunes.
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