Hurricanes Hit the Caribbean Islands

By Matthew Verret, Staff Writer

In the wake of the horrific impact of Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, slammed into The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. All 16 Caribbean Islands faced major devastation as a result of the storms, and six out of the sixteen islands have reported deaths. The islands impacted the most by Hurricane Irma were St. Maarten/St. Martin and Barbuda. In St. Maarten/St. Martin, at least 14 deaths were reported, and 200 people have been reported as missing. The island of Barbuda/Antigua was also heavily impacted by Hurricane Irma. , “For the first time in 300 years, not a single living person is to be found on the island of Barbuda. A civilization that has existed for close to 300 years is now extinguished,” CNN reports. Hurricane Maria has also swept through the island of Puerto Rico, where 2,000-2,500+ people have currently lost their homes, along with 10,059 refugees all in emergency shelters. With this utter devastation, the Caribbean Islands are going to need a lot of clean up and reconstruction to restore the islands back to their original state.