Hurricane Irma destroyed buildings and caused major flooding in many French island territories in the Caribbean on Wednesday, BBC reported. French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the storm destroyed four “most solid” buildings shared by France and the Netherlands on Saint Martin island.
At sustained wind speeds of 295 kilometres per hour, the Category-5 storm first hit Antigua and Barbuda, before moving to Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy island. The airport at the Dutch territory of Saint Maarten has been closed, and citizens are facing a power blackout. Boats in the ports have been destroyed and many cars are under water, Dutch national broadcaster NOS said.
French Overseas Territories Minister Annick Girardin said coastlines were being “battered extremely violently” as the hurricane caused the sea to dash against the coast. France’s interior minister said three emergency teams were being sent to the territories owned by the country.
The hurricane’s “extremely dangerous core” is headed over parts of the Virgin Islands on Wednesday, passing near Puerto Rico and then the Dominican Republic, the United States National Hurricane Center said. United States President Donald Trump has declared a state of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Florida’s Key West area has ordered a mandatory evacuation.
Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the country had escaped major damage, and no lives had been lost. But it is unclear how the hurricane had affected Barbuda. “We really do not know what is happening,” Antigua radio journalist Gemma Handy told the BBC. “We are trying to be positive, but nobody’s really going to relax over here. It is a very close-knit community of just 90,000 people.” She said people were waiting for news of their relatives.
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