Hurricane Irma aftermath: Destruction, recovery in St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, ST. MAARTEN — Boats and corrugated metal lay piled up on the sides of the roads on the hurricane-tattered island of St. Maarten. In the dutch administered southern side of the island, entire buildings have been reduced to rubble.

The few residents on town streets walked around downed trees and stepped over sagging power lines that were hanging from leaning utility poles. At night, much of the area was pitch black with people relying on candlelight and flashlights to see.

Listening to the radio revealed more distress on the island that is divided between the French and Dutch governments. Residents pleaded for help finding missing family members and wondered when water and food would arrive. A radio host promised the callers help would arrive.

Keisha Bradford, 39, took shelter at a friend's during Hurricane Irma and returned to find her house destroyed. She said she hadn't received any aid in the days after the storm. She stood outside her home in the Colebay community on the Dutch side, looking on as neighbors applied a plastic covering to the roof of someone else's home.

“We need help, we need food, we need everything,” Bradford said. She lost everything after the roof of her house was blown away from the sustained force of the 185 mph winds.

Although much foreign aid has arrived for many in need in St. Maarten, more is needed because of the scale of devastation on the 33.5-square-mile island with a population of over 70,000 people.

Many have criticized the government’s initial response in the aftermath of Irma.

A week after the storm hammered the island killing dozens and causing unprecedented damage throughout the country, disaster relief efforts have poured in to assist the stranded residents who lack proper shelter, food, power or running water. At least 14 people have died, and more than 200 are missing, according to the Netherlands Red Cross.

The Greenville News flew to St. Maarten for a day this week with Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian aid group based in Boone, North Carolina, to get a firsthand view of the relief efforts and destruction caused by Irma, the Category 5 hurricane that hit on Sept. 6.

On Wednesday morning, inside a makeshift airport warehouse, a half-dozen staff members from Samaritan’s Purse International Relief packed more than 350 tarpaulins onto a truck destined for the hardest-hit communities in St. Maarten.

On Sept. 8, Samaritan's Purse used its DC-8 aircraft, outfitted with both cargo and passenger room in the rear, to rescue 29 people stranded on the island. The aid group made four trips into St. Marten in five days. The group flew in more than 87 tons of aid, including food, water purification units, tarps, blankets and hygiene kits.

As of Thursday, nearly 1,300 families have received assistance and emergency shelter materials through distribution operations, said Kaitlyn Lahm, media relations manager for Samaritan's Purse. 

Conditions on the island have steadily improved over the past week, said Hannah Hamrick, a 29-year-old programs officer overseeing disaster response programs for Samaritan's Purse.

But the destruction was unlike anything she’d ever seen.

“First thing I noticed was the trees that were completely bent from the force of the winds, airplanes turned upside-down along the side of the runway, and cars turned over in the parking lot,” said Hamrick, who flew in Sept. 8 as part of the first Samaritan’s Purse response team. “Just so much is completely destroyed.

“Right now, yes the island is in crisis, but very quickly we’re seeing the movement out of it. The first two days we came here, there was no cleaning up, it was as if there was just a stillness across the island, people were in shock. There’s more people out moving debris. Things are coming to life. People are working to clean up the area.”

Samaritan’s Purse has two dozen staff members based on the island and has established a logistics and supply base from San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a larger emergency response to other hard-hit Caribbean islands.

Samaritan's Purse has not been alone in their relief efforts.

Jacqueline Brooks, a 52-year-old native of St. Maarten, sat under the shade of a jet bridge at the Princess Juliana Airport Wednesday morning, waiting on her next assignment from the Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten.

Brooks, a mother of four, had been assisting with water deliveries to local communities since Monday. She was one of the lucky ones, having only sustained minor damage to her house in the Sucker Garden community.

As a contingent of Dutch firefighters, policemen and emergency crews exited from one of two military cargo planes onto the active airport runway, Brooks described the situation on the island as desperate — reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Luis, which hit St. Maarten as a Category 4 storm in 1995, leaving mass destruction, widespread looting and a shortage of food.

“The state of the island is very devastating,” said Brooks, fatigued from a lack of sleep but energized to see more manpower coming into the country. “It’s a very sad situation here, but one thing we have to do is thank God that we are alive.”

Although electricity has been restored to some communities, she said there is a mandatory curfew for residents on the island.

Getting a water supply up and running was also a concern for workers as water infrastructure across the island was severely damaged.

Tim Darms, 29, an engineer with Water Mission, a Christian engineering ministry that frequently works with Samaritan’s Purse to build drinking water systems in disaster response situations, said he plans to stay on the island a month. He will be setting up multiple reverse osmosis units which convert sea water to fresh drinking water.

“What do they say, you can go only three days without water ... without infrastructure, sanitation and toilets, diseases like cholera, dysentery just spread," Darms said. 

Word of mouth has been the only way for some to know what's happening on the northern French side of the island, St. Martin. Travel from the Dutch side to the French side has been restricted. On both sides, residents said there has been widespread looting of food, electronics and vehicles in the aftermath of the storm, but more prevalent on the French side.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch King Willem-Alexander toured hard-hit areas this week and vowed to restore the island to normalcy.

Samaritan’s Purse had not begun operations in the French part of the island because of security concerns of the Dutch military, said Hamrick.

The people trying to help are reminded at every turn of the widespread damage the hurricane caused.

The remains of a five-star hotel, now marred by countless shattered windows, served as a base for aid workers and military personnel. They congregated for meals there as rumbling generators provided electricity.   

The airport, despite sustaining extensive roof damage, was a hub of activity Wednesday.

On the runway reserved for parked planes, airport staff and Samaritan's Purse workers sweat in the sun and took hours unloading pallet after pallet of the 30 tons of food that had arrived on Wednesday’s flight. Nearby, personnel unloaded supplies from a U.S. Air Force cargo plane.

On the same runway, Dutch military checked documents and patted down passengers set to board a Spanish airliner out of the country.

Outside the airport gates, a few hundred people crowded the parking lot in lines, waiting to be screened so they could board a number of free one-way flights out of the country. Abandoned cars were lined along the roadside near the airport.

Despite the aid coming into the country, it has been challenging to get help to the communities most in need. Gas and running vehicles are in short supply, said Hamrick, the Samaritan's Purse emergency response leader who has coordinated with the local government, Dutch military and local religious leaders in distribution efforts to target communities most in need.

Pastor Dones Lapaix, captain with the local Salvation Army in Colebay, a community of close to 600 residents, was grateful for the assistance of Samaritan’s Purse. Lapaix said he’d already distributed 30 tarpaulins and expected more in the coming days.

Lapaix said 30 families took shelter in the two-story shelter where he and his family also live.

“God spared the life of our people and I am praying and continue to pray to ask the Lord to touch the hearts of everyone ... God gave us one more chance.” Lapaix said.