Hurricane Irma and the response to it

Background
The Caribbean is known for it's cyclones and hurricanes. It has, and always will be planning to survive such an event. Hurricane Irma was the worst ever as of September 2017.

Barbuda, like many of the smaller Caribbean islands, is a coral island rising a mere 125 feet (38 meters) above sea level and is thus more vunrible to any exstreem weather events that hit it, unlike the bigger islands like Jamacia and Cuba.

All the islands it hit and the US state of Florida had ordered either mandatory evacuations to safer land and\or the usual boarding up of windows and stockpiling of supplies such as medicine, food, water, batteries and so forth.

On Barbuda, authorities ordered an evacuation of all 1,400 people to neighboring Antigua the day befor the storm hit.

The French had an emergency generator and equipment on the island awaiting such useage, while the Dutch had nothing on the island of St Martin. The British, independent and America,islands were prepared as best they were. Cuba was well known for it's historic storm evacuation and recovery planing.

The hurricane it's self
Hurricane Irma was the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the Atlantic. It was 400-mile-wide (640-kilometer-wide) when it reached the Caribbean.

It generally got windy as a whole in a zone between Southern Florida, Aruba, Jamaica and Guadalupe on the 5th and 6th. It produced sustained winds at 295 kilometers per hour (183 miles per hour) for more than 33 hours at the hight of the storm's existence.

Record wings were reported often, with Cuba reporting record wind speeds of between 185 mph and 159 mph (256 kph), and 185 mph were reported in the the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico St Martin and St. Maarten. Barbuda was hit by winds between 157 mph (252 kph) and 295 km/h (185 mph). The Bahamas were hit by winds speeds of 150mph. 130mph winds hit the Florida Keys and 120mph in south Florida. It was about 30 miles wide. The hurricane hit across most of the region devastating buildings, transportation, utilities and national infrastructure.

Heavy rain, tidal surges and winds were recored to have reached 175 mph on the northern coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and brought hurricane-force wind to the Turks and Caicos Islands 6th

A 20 foot storm surge wave hit all areas north of and including the island of Saint Martin. It penetrated low lying parts of Cuba for up to half of a kilometer in land with 23 foot waves.

The Cuban government has extended its maximum state of alert to three additional provinces, including Havana, amid fears of flooding in low-lying areas late on September 9th.

It first emerged as a tropical low over the island of Ilha Formosa of the coast of Guinea Bissau on August 27th and became noteworthy as it went out to sea on the 28th.

An overview of the damage, deaths and injuries it caused

 *  Officially death toll estimates were: 22 by 2.00pm UTC on the 8th (The Denver Post) 21 by 2.00pm UTC on the 9th (CBS) and 19 at 10.00pm UTC on September 9th (Channels24 Television). At least 9 people dead, 7 missing and 112 injured on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts by the 10th according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb. over 6,000,000 have no electricity across the disaster zone. 

Dominican Republic
Low destruction levels and 600,000 with out electricity. Most phones were out of use it he places hit by the power blackouts. 2(?) dead.

Bahamas
Moderate damage in the southern islands.

Dominica
Modest damage.

St Kitts and Nevis
Heavy damage.

Haiti
Negligible destruction levels levels. 1(?) dead.

St Vincent and The Grenadines
Moderate damage destruction.

St Lucia
Low destruction.

Barbados
Minimal damage. The 16 year old surfer Zander Venezia was killed riding wave during Hurricane Irma in a shallow reef at a popular, but difficult to master surfing beach called Box by Box on September 5th.

Cuba
Heavily damaged and sometimes heavy coastal floods. 900,000 without power. Water outages were in many places. 1 (?) or 2(?) deaths.

Heavy damaged and sometimes heavy coastal floods. Havana largely flooded and being ruins in places and several laces heavily flooded. 900,000 were without power. Water outages were in many places.

A major tidal surge wave hit Cuba. It penetrated low lying parts of Cuba for up to half of a kilometer in land with 23 foot waves.

The Cuban government had extended its maximum state of alert to three additional provinces, including Havana, amid fears of flooding in low-lying areas late on September 9th.

Jamaica
Negligible destruction levels levels.

Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua ~90% damage, Barbuda ~95% damage. 1 dead on each island.

Cayman Islands
Negligible destruction levels levels.

Montserrat
Heavy damage. 14(c) dead.

Turks and Caicos Islands
14(c) dead.

Anguilla
100% destruction. 14(c) dead.

British Virgin Islands
~95% destruction. 14(c) or 5 dead. Internet, water, phones and electricity are minimal.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) declared a state of emergency and governor Gus Jaspert asked the UK for help on September 9th.

Some looting occurred on the 8th, 9th and 10th.

St Martin
A 20 foot storm surge wave hit all areas between the US Virgin Islands and the island of Saint Martin.

~95% destruction, 8(a), 19(b), 10 (d), or 2 dead. least 9 people dead, 7 missing and 112 injured on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts by the 10th according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

The island of St. Martin is historically split in half between the north, which is a French collectivity (territory), and the south which is a part of the Netherlands proper. The French already had some emergency generators and rescue equipment on the island awaiting such usage, while the Dutch had nothing.

The French half's airport is only open to helicopters and their desalination plant is back in operation.

The Dutch abandoned their half until troops were sent in on the 7th after starving crowd went out looting for survival, followed by the inevitable general breakdown of law and order. This general lawlessness and looting of high-end consumer goods and up-market sofas spread to the French half, so the governor called in specialist police from the French mainland to back up the local police units and help defend arriving French aid workers. Looting and gunshots were reported on St. Martin on the 7th. A curfew and martial law were declared in both haves during the 8th and 9th to quell the looting and rioting. Some looting, gunshots and a lack of clean drinking water were reported on the 10th.

3 gendarmery squads, 3 police mobile unit landed on the French half of the island with building materials, tents, food, medication and water between the 9th and 12th.

least 9 people dead, 7 missing and 112 injured on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts by the 10th according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

St. Barthelemy (St. Barts)
100% destruction 8(a) 19(b) dead. least 9 people dead, 7 missing and 112 injured on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts by the 10th according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

St. Thomas
95% damage. 19(b) dead. Several cruise lines to help evacuate St. Thomas on September 9th.

Guadeloupe
Heavy damage. 19(b) dead.

Martinique
Heavy damage. 19(b) dead.

French insurance costs
Bertrand Labilloy, head of the Caisse Centrale de Reassurance (CCR) which specialises in natural disasters, said that such damges on the French islands would be about 100-200 million Euros. The current value was reckoned to be about 200 million Euros ($240 million) on the 8th.

St. Maarten
~90% destruction, 45 (French false news), 0 (Dutch government spin on the 10th) or 10 (d) dead.

A 20 foot storm surge wave hit all areas between the US Virgin Islands and the island of Saint Martin.

~95% destruction, 8(a), 19(b), 10 (d), or 2 dead. least 9 people dead, 7 missing and 112 injured on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts by the 10th according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

The island of St. Martin is historically split in half between the north, which is a French collectivity (territory), and the south which is a part of the Netherlands proper. The French already had some emergency generators and rescue equipment on the island awaiting such usage, while the Dutch had nothing.

The airport is only open to occasional light aircraft and helicopters. A Dutch naval helicopter arrived on St. Maaten the 7th

The Dutch abandoned their half until troops were sent in on the 7th after starving crowd went out looting for survival, followed by the inevitable general breakdown of law and order. This general lawlessness and looting of high-end consumer goods and up-market sofas spread to the French half, so the governor called in specialist police from the French mainland to back up the local police units and help defend arriving French aid workers. A curfew and martial law were declared in both haves during the 8th and 9th to quell the looting and rioting.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Dutch side of the island was "not reachable at this point because of the huge damage to the airport and the harbour." 8th

200 Dutch troops were sent to St. Maarten on the 9th to wipe out the looters and food rioters. Some Dutch and French aid workers also arived on the 8th.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the hurricane had caused “huge damage” to the airport and harbour on the 8th and port were "out of action",that the fire department had been "severely affected" and later that "We will try to get the airport up and running as soon as possible so that extra resources can be brought (in)".

In a statement on the 9th, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the island had suffered “little inconvenience from wind and rain that can’t be tackled with repair and clean-up operations.” on St. Maarten.

American citizens were evacuated from St. Maarten by U.S. military aircraft on the 10th.

Bonaire
Negligible destruction levels levels.

St Eustatius
Negligible destruction levels levels.

Saba
Negligible destruction levels levels.

Aruba
Negligible destruction levels levels.

US Virgin Islands
~90% destruction and 2(?) dead.

A precautionary curfew was imposed in the U.S. Virgin Islands on the 8th and some on the 8th, 9th and 10th.

Porto Rico
Low destruction levels. ~2,000,000 without electricity and many phone lines were downed. 5(?) dead.

Florida
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief, Brock Long, offered some advice for people in the path of Hurricane Irma who've been ordered to evacuate on the 9th and 10th of September.

The mayor of Fort Lauderdale ordered mandatory evacuations for all residents east of US 1.on September 6th.

The city of Tampa, on the west coast of Florida, declared a local state of emergencyOn September 6th.

3m had evacuated by the 7th, 6.3m Floridians had evacuated by the 9th and 3.9m more had evacuated by the 10th. Many stayed behind, especially in the southern city of Tampa and the Florida Keys. Some stay behinds were British ex-pats and tourists who don't or won't get what the fuss is about (twits).

Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) said on Irma: "It’s going to take a long time to dig out of this." on the 11th.

A mandatory evacuation occurred on the 6th to 8th. Heavy rain, winds of up to 150mph with the Florida Keys and a 15 ft to 7 ft surge wave hit them. 100,000 were without power.
 *  The Florida Keys 

As of 8.00pm UTC on the 9th, storm started battering the Florida Keys and southern tip of the state with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph in many places.

2 blokes died on September 10th after high winds caused their pickup truck to crash in the Florida Keys early on September 10th.

Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) said on Irma: "It’s going to take a long time to dig out of this." on the 11th.

The mayor of Fort Lauderdale ordered mandatory evacuations for all residents east of US 1.on September 6th.
 *  The Florida Peninsula 

The city of Tampa, on the west coast of Florida, declared a local state of emergencyOn September 6th.

A mandatory evacuation occurred on the 6th to 9th.

600,000 lost power in southern Florida on the 9th and this had increased to 1,000,000 by the beginning of 10th and 3,500,000 by the end of the 10th. By this tome, 1,000,000 were in Miami-Dade county.

Heavy rain and winds of up to 150mph winds spread to Naples and St Petersburg in Florida late on September 9th. It then spread with 120 to 130 mph winds to the rest of St. Petersburg and Collier counties by 1.00am UTC on September 10th.

A Miami-Dade Sherif's Deputy, who was killed by 2.00pm UTC and a crane had collapse on to a Miami office block by 3.00pm UTC. The crane was unmanned and the office was safely evacuated. Another later collapsed in another part of Miami that day.

Both Miami and West Palm Beach on the Atlantic side. Both were hit by heavy rain and winds of 100 mph (160 kph) by 3.00pm UTC on the 10th. The storm poured heavy rain down across Miami-Dade county by 3.00pm UTC and Monroe County a little later in the day. It later Browland and Brevard counties were hit by 6.15pm UTC. Orlando and Disney World were hit by 8.00pm UTC.

The eye of the storm hit Naples, Florida at 9.00pm UTC and Benita Springs, Florida at 9.30 UTC on the 10th, with winds of 110mph and a 6ft to 7fi surge wave. Some looting occurred in varicose parts of Miami City and both Brevard and Browland Counties,

Some shops in Fort Lauderdale were looted on September 10th.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg urban area wash hit by 105 mph (177 kph) winds on 1.30 am UTC on September 11th.

A madatory evacuation occers on Jaksonvilles' beach side communities.
 *  Jacksonville-Atlantic Beach 

An evacuation order was put on Atlantic Beach and a flash flood alert was activated in Jacksonville on the 10th.

They were hit by 100mph winds and heavy rain by 3.00pm on the 11th.

.
 *  The Florida Panhandle. 

Georgia
.

Alabama
.

S. Carolina
.


 * (a)= A combined, pan-colony official death toll on September 8th.
 * (b)= A combined, pan-colony official death toll on September 9th.
 * (c)= A combined, pan-colony official death toll on September 9th.
 * (d)= A combined, pan-colony official death toll on September 9th.

Florida's insurance costs
It was estimated on September 9th that Florida Insurers were facing a $200,000,000,000 bill.

UK's response to Hurricane Irma
France and the UK pleged to send substanial aid packages to the region and it began ariving on September 8th.


 *  The UK's aid package included: 
 * 1) 200 shelter kits, each able to support a family of 5.
 * 2) HMS Ocean
 * 3) RFA Mounts Bay
 * 4) 40 Royal Marines and Army Engineers on board tasked with restoring clean water, sanitation, temporary shelter and if required, medical assistance and rebuilding Anguilla's airport.
 * 5) The UK charity, MapAction, sent a 2 person Disaster Mapping Team to the Caribbean to support mapping and information management on site.
 * 6) The British Red Cross and the ICRC sent rescue workers to the islands involved.
 * 7) 2 C17 cargo planes and a Voyager cargo plane, were flying from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, carrying around 200 Royal Marines, engineers, 2 Puma helicopters and life-saving equipment.
 * 8) £32 million on September 9th, up from £12 million on September 8th.
 * 9) 50 cops are sent to to the BVI on the 10th.

..

Several cruise lines to help evacuate Irma-ravaged St. Thomas on September 9th.

The British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said the UK’s response was “very good”.

The British print media rediculed it as to little to late.

French aid program
200 troops, rescuers, soldiers and medics flew to Guadeloupe where rescue efforts French being coordinated for surrounding territories. 7th

"Such an intensity, for such a long period, has never been observed in the satellite era." said Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at Meteo France on the 9th.

Some French politicians criticised it's response as to little and to late on the 10th.

French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency meeting at the Elysée Palace on September 9th to organised an aid programmer for St. Bartholomew and the Franco-Dutch isle of St. Martin, both devastated by Hurricane Irma. Around 3,000 packs of emergency military rations were sent by the 10th and 100,000 arrived on the 11th.

least 9 people dead, 7 missing and 112 injured on the French Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts by the 10th according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

Dutch aid program
A Dutch naval helicopter arrived on St. Maarten the 7th.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Dutch side of the island was "not reachable at this point because of the huge damage to the airport and the harbour." 8th

Others
Colombia, Panama, Jamaica, Belgian, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Japan, Norway, China, Canada and Mexico the reportedly send some minor aid supplies on the 8th.

Aid agencies including, Shelterbox, set up supply depots and HQs in Panama on the 10th.

Tourist evacuations
Cruse lines evacuated thire clients and some other tourists on September 6th and 7th, depending on location.

The USA and Canada sent aircraft in to rescue thire nationals between September 4th and 7th, depending on location. Sadly, the commercial flights from USA, in particular Florida, horrendously price gouged thire passengers!

Thomas Cook, which was still suffering from an ongoing pilots' pay strike that started on September 7th, sent some reps to Cuba on the 9th to tell it's clients it had no intention of holding an evacuation, even if the strike was going to stop.

2,500 Thomas Cook passengers, had to travel 8 hours in 11 coaches from the resort of Cayo Coco to the town of Varadero on the 9th after things got to dangerous. When the tourist complained, they accused the Cubans of giving them bad advice.9,000 of thire pasingers were also abandoned in Florida and left to fend for them selves, all be it with help from the local Americans.

2,000 were evacuated from Cuba on the 11th.

Official visits
Dutch king visited the Dutch islands on the 11th

Price gouging
The USA and Canada sent aircraft in to rescue thire nationals between September 4th and 7th, depending on location. Sadly, the commercial flights from USA, in particular Florida, horrendously price gouged thire passengers!

Hurricane Irma related price gouging reports rose to over 3,000 cases on September 9th on the Florida price gouging hotline.

States of emergency
Antigua and Barbuda's PM, Gaston Browne, declared a state of emergency asked the world for help on September 7th.

Anguilla, declared a state of emergency asked the world for help on September 7th.

Martial law were declared in both haves of the island of St Martin during the 8th and 9th to quell the looting and rioting.

A precautionary curfew was imposed in the U.S. Virgin Islands on the 9th.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) declared a state of emergency and governor Gus Jaspert asked the UK for help on September 9th.

The governor of Florida and the Mayor of Miami gratuitously declared a curfew in the city starting at 20.00 on September 9th, local time.

Florida sadly slipped in to a growing state state of emergency between September 4th and 8th as more counties were deemed to be at risk. Southern Georgia and the coastal parts of Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas were put under a state of emergency on the 8th.

Notable quotes
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Dutch side of the island was "not reachable at this point because of the huge damage to the airport and the harbour." 8th

“I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to know that further damage is imminent.” said Inspector Frankie Thomas of the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda on the 8th in reference to Hurricane Jose's arrival on the 9th.

Sharon Flax-Brutus, director of tourism for the islands, said “many homes are without roofs, or have been diminished to merely foundations”.

“It has now stopped raining, but all night there was a terrible wind.” said, Gisela Fernandez, a 42-year-old nurse in central Villa Clara province told a AFP reporter.

The governor of the central Camaguey province, Isabel Gonzalez, went on national television, late on September 9th, to warn people of “major damage.” without giving further details on the 9th.

"Such an intensity, for such a long period, has never been observed in the satellite era." said Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at Meteo France on the 9th.

Stephen Twigg said: “Experts and many in the area have been critical of the overall level of relief currently on offer as well as the apparent lack of forward-thinking once the storm’s route to Florida became more than just a possibility.”

Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, criticised the speed of the Government’s response to the growing crisis in their dependencies (colony with a large degree of home rule) after Hurricane Irma on the 8th. He said the impact of Hurricane Irma on the Caribbean was “entirely predictable” and the British government “should have acted much faster”.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the hurricane had caused “huge damage” to the airport and harbour on the 8th and port were "out of action",that the fire department had been "severely affected" and later that "We will try to get the airport up and running as soon as possible so that extra resources can be brought (in)".

In a statement on the 9th, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the island had suffered “little inconvenience from wind and rain that can’t be tackled with repair and clean-up operations.” on St. Maarten.

The long term regonal consequences
.

The political fall out
The Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee and international development committee head, and Labour MP Stephen Twigg wrote to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Development Secretary Priti Patel on the 8th criticising the “lack of forward thinking”.

Stephen Twigg said: “Experts and many in the area have been critical of the overall level of relief currently on offer as well as the apparent lack of forward-thinking once the storm’s route to Florida became more than just a possibility.”

Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, criticised the speed of the Government’s response to the growing crisis in their dependencies (colony with a large degree of home rule) after Hurricane Irma on the 8th. He said the impact of Hurricane Irma on the Caribbean was “entirely predictable” and the British government “should have acted much faster”.

"Such an intensity, for such a long period, has never been observed in the satellite era." said Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at Meteo France on the 9th.

Some French politicians criticised it's responce as to little and to late on the 10th.

Some Floridian individuals criticised the Florida evacuation plan on the 10th and 11th saying that only the Florida peninsular's coastline and Florida Keys should have been evacuated.

Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) said on Irma: "It’s going to take a long time to dig out of this." on the 11th.

UK government phone line

 * The Foreign Office hotline for British or British Dependent Teritory people affected is: 020 7008 0000.