These dramatic aerial pictures show scenes of devastation on a Caribbean island after it was ravaged by the most powerful hurricane the Atlantic has ever seen.
Astonishing images show the scale of the destruction on the island of St. Martin in the aftermath of a direct hit by Category 5 Hurricane Irma.
Video, shot from a Dutch Defense Ministry navy helicopter sent to assess damage Wednesday evening, shows seafront hotels – a mainstay of the Caribbean island’s economy – with their roofs badly damaged, palm trees stripped of fronds and poolside terraces covered in sand.
Streets were largely deserted and littered with debris. At a port area, shipping containers were strewn like children’s building blocks. Elsewhere, yachts were shown jumbled together in a small harbor, some overturned or dumped, upside down, onto the shore.
Dramatic aerial pictures show scenes of devastation on a Caribbean island after it was ravaged by the most powerful hurricane the Atlantic has ever seen. At a port area, shipping containers were strewn like children’s building blocks (pictured)
Astonishing images show the scale of the destruction on the island of St. Maarten in the aftermath of a direct hit by Category 5 Hurricane Irma
Video, shot from a Dutch Defense Ministry navy helicopter sent to assess damage Wednesday evening, shows seafront hotels – a mainstay of the Caribbean island’s economy – with their roofs badly damaged, palm trees stripped of fronds and poolside terraces covered in sand
Hurricane Irma has caused “enormous damage” to the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, the Dutch Royal Navy said on Thursday. The navy, which has two ships stationed off the coast of the island, tweeted images gathered by helicopter showing damaged houses, hotels and boats.
Dutch Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said he briefly had contact with Saint Martin’s prime minister but communications are sporadic. He said nine patients at a hospital in the country had been evacuated by Dutch military helicopter.
Irma has caused ‘huge damage’ to St Martin, devastating its airport and port and leaving the Dutch part of the Caribbean island unreachable, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.
‘Alas, the island is not reachable at this point because of the huge damage to the airport and the harbour,’ Rutte told reporters, though he added there were no reports of deaths on the Dutch side so far. French authorities say at least nine lives have been lost on the French side.
The island’s airport, Princess Juliana, also was hit hard, with what appeared to be sand washed up to parts of the main terminal and the building’s roof extensively damaged.
No aircraft were visible on the tarmac. The airport is famous around the world because its runway ends very close to a beach, where tourists can stand and watch landing aircraft skim low overhead.
Huge rocks smashed into planes, and boarding walkways were slammed to the ground by the downpour of rain and gusts of wind, which also brought mounds of sand on to the runway.
Inside the airport, the check-in lounge was flooded and walkways were damaged by the storm.
Parts of the building broke off during the storm and were seen lying on the runway after the storm passed.
Photos of the damage were documented by a hurricane rescue team, who went in after the storm passed.
St Martin (‘Sint Maarten’ in Dutch), located south of the island of Anguilla, is divided between the Netherlands and France.
Inside the airport, which lies on the Dutch side of Saint Martin island, the check-in lounge was flooded and walkways were damaged by the storm
Hurricane rescue teams evaluated the damage at Juliana Airport in St Martin after the storm passed on Wednesday
Huge rocks smashed into planes, and boarding walkways were slammed to the ground by the downpour of rain and gusts of wind, which also brought loads of sand on to the runway
This was the bizarre scene along the coast of Saint Martin after roofs were torn off houses and blown off in to the streets
Dramatic pictures have emerged on social media showing the scale of the flooding on the island St Martin in the immediate aftermath of the storm passing
Hurricane Irma has ripped through Caribbean islands on a path towards the US. A second hurricane, Jose, is developing in the Atlantic
The Dutch government is holding a crisis meeting about the damage to its part, St. Maarten. Its navy has two ships stationed off the coast of the Island.
Andre van der Kamp, commander of the Dutch ship Zeeland, tweeted that the Zeeland and Pelikaan would be trying to moor on Sint Maarten to deliver emergency aid on Thursday, but they needed to complete a safety check of the port first.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron will go to the islands hit by Hurricane Irma as soon as weather conditions permit, after authorities announced at least eight people died on Saint-Martin.
Macron’s office said Thursday that the president will travel to France’s Caribbean territories ‘as soon as possible’ once immediate rescue operations are complete.
The president of the territorial council, Daniel Gibbs, said on Radio Caraibes International that Saint-Martin is ’95 percent destroyed.’
Damages and casualties were also reported on the nearby French island of Saint-Barthelemy.