Hurricane Irma has pummelled the south eastern US, leaving destruction and devastation in its wake. Initial estimates suggest a quarter of all homes in Florida Keys have been razed.
Those who were evacuated are beginning to return. But not everybody left town.
“I stayed in the bathroom, me and my girlfriend Donna, we stayed in the bathroom in the hallways for two days. It was hell. You didn’t know if we were going to make it or not,” said resident, Shawne Street.
Florida Hurricane #Irma Power Outage Numbers as of 9/13/2017 9:00 AM ET. PDF at: https://t.co/MdtDTxRJZf #FLResponds pic.twitter.com/AYGLGsgecF— Florida SERT (@FLSERT) September 13, 2017
More than 60 people were killed in the storm. Of the 18 fatalities in the US, 12 were in Florida, emergency management officials confirmed.
Hurricanes #Harvey and #Irma could be first back-to-back retired hurricane names since 2005: https://t.co/pDwIihSiTJ pic.twitter.com/QMSgb3NFpN— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) September 13, 2017
While the damage in the US was extreme, the Caribbean bore the brunt of the hurricane. At least 43 people died in the region.
Aid relief missions are underway across the islands. Food, water and medicine are in short supply in many areas and there is growing concern about looting in ravaged neighbourhoods.
