Hurricane Irma absolutely devastated the island of St. Martin in the Caribbean. The popular tourist destination and cruise port was hammered by Category 5 winds, a huge storm surge, and the prolonged rainfall of the slow moving, high wind speed behemoth. Now the AP is reporting that U.S. Consulate General in Curacao states as many as 6,000 Americans are stranded on the island amid the destruction.
And that’s not all. Not only are people on the island, American and otherwise, trapped with no power or water or even, in some cases, shelter while awaiting rescue, but they have another hurricane headed straight for them: Jose. And it’s now a category 4.
From CBS:
The consulate said it was working with the U.S. and other governments to try to figure out how to get the Americans off the island either by air or boat.
Irma hit St. Martin on Wednesday as a Category 5 storm. Photos and video of St. Martin circulating on social media showed major damage to the Philipsburg airport and heavy flooding in the coastal village of Marigot, according to the AP.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the AP the storm “caused wide-scale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses.”
“There is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are under water, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world,” he said.
Just days after Irma slammed the island, St. Martin is under a hurricane watch again for the powerful Category 4 Hurricane Jose.
Here’s a shot from the island after Irma passed through.
Hurricane Irma kills at least six on French island of Saint-Martin https://t.co/E8wk5WtCxM pic.twitter.com/T9xrvOG5Ev
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 7, 2017
This is a very dangerous situation. Keep them in your prayers.