Hurricane Irma: Boris Johnson to fly to Caribbean to survey aid effort

Jason, thanks for being with us. Do you know anything about that?

“The hardest-hit provinces are Camaguey, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and to some extent Matanzas, the resort area of Varadero, which was directly in the path of the hurricanes and where all the tourists were evacuated”, Richard Paterson, the Care organisation’s representative in Cuba, said by phone from Havana.

The latest travel advice from Thomas Cook states: “A damage assessment is now underway in Varadero and Havana, Cuba with airports expected to re-open on Tuesday, September 12”. Officials in Florida and across the Caribbean, meanwhile, started to dig out and evaluate the full scope of the disaster Irma left behind.

The storm regained its category five status overnight before dropping back to category four today.

Ms Chilton, 40, who is originally from Middlesbrough, said she felt like “one of the lucky ones” after being rescued and taken to Puerto Rico with her three-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter.

Strong winds and heavy rain also lashed the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the low-lying Turks and Caicos Islands Thursday into Friday.

MARTIN: Can you give us a sense of how extensive the damage is in Cuba? “(In reality, the National Hurricane Center rates storms according to their severity as high as category 5.) “[The islands are] isolated from outside help. For example, here in Puerto Rico, there’s a lot of downed trees, power lines.

She told Britain’s Press Association news agency that “people’s “everything” is gone: Their businesses, their homes, their churches, their schools, are gone”.

Hurricane Irma’s 185-mph winds proved terrifying in their sound and power for many on the island. And the governor said that was flattened. And then he sort of opens his eyes and is surprised to see that it didn’t really hit.

“But I’ve absolutely no doubt that we can face up to the challenge, we can deliver the help that those islanders need, we are seeing some signs of improvement, things are getting better on BVI, we’ve now got to make sure Anguilla gets the help it needs”.

“Hopefully electricity will return soon and more people can get in touch with loved ones”.

Rolando Brison, St. Martin’s director of tourism, said firefighters struggled to hose off sand dumped by the storm onto the airport runways, leaving almost 3000 tourists stranded. Among the hardest hit islands were the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, plus Antigua and Barbuda. And yet, in neighboring St. Croix, it just wasn’t quite as bad.

At least 20 people died in the region, with the roof torn from the St. Thomas hospital where Field was born.

“By the end of the evening there will be well over 100 marines and troops on the island, their priority will be establishing security and law and order before providing humanitarian assistance before the arrival of Hurricane Jose”. “At a time like this, when our endurance is tested, we implore God to direct us to yet unknown reserves of strength and human compassion for those suffering so deeply”.