Eden Rock St. Barths has announced on its website that St. Barths has received serious damage due to Hurricane Irma, and that the hotel’s planned October opening has been postponed indefinitely. The resort was closed for annual maintenance when the hurricane reached the island so no guests or staff were injured. They continue to say that communication between the island and Metropole has not been restored.
Both the French St. Martin and the Dutch St. Maarten received similarly heavy damage. According to Daniel Gibb, a local official 95 percent of St. Maarten is destroyed. He called it “an enormous catastrophe.”
Barbuda suffered upwards of 90 percent of its buildings being destroyed and 50 percent of the population left homeless. Robert de Niro, who is a partial owner of the $250 million refurbishment of the K Club site, which was undergoing reconstruction as the Paradise Found Nobu.
Many of the resorts on Anguilla suffered only minor damage, although the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport remains closed.
Turks and Caicos have evacuated many of its smaller, low-lying islands. Both Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas are expected to see storm surges of 15 to 20 feet in addition to rainfall of up to 20 inches.
Going forward, Hurricane Irma is expected to reach U.S. mainland in Florida and the Carolinas. A hurricane watch is now in effect for the Florida peninsula from Jupiter Inlet southward and around the peninsula to Bonita Beach, including the Florida Keys, Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay.
In related news: Currently a Category 2, Hurricane Jose is on path to reach the Leeward Islands as well as Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Saba and St. Eustatius. In the coming days Hurricane Jose is expected to strengthen.
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