Major evacuation underway
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Brown has engaged residents of Barbuda and assured them of being taken care of by his government.
Speaking from the tray of an open-back pickup yesterday (Sept. 7), Brown visited Barbuda to see firsthand the devastation Hurricane Irma left in her wake.
The island was decimated and deemed uninhabitable.
“I want to say to you that you have to remain hopeful, you have to remain resilient, you have to remain strong, and what I can assure you is that the government would stand full square with each Barbudan.
“What we would do now is remobilize because at now point we thought that both Antigua and Barbuda were spared the worst not recognizing that our sister islands was totally devastated.”
Following the passage of Hurricane Irma, a gloomy scene appeared on the island as homes and buildings were totally flattened by the 180-plus miles per hour winds pounded the nation.
Brown said that the people should be thankful as it could have been worse.
SKNVibes understands that there was one life lost, and it was that of a child.
Meanwhile, Barbuda is under evacuation as Hurricane Jose is expected to make landfall on that island tomorrow.
The government has started to relocate people to sister isle Antigua ahead of the landfall.
Boat loads of people were being transported to Antigua last night.
Images coming out of Antigua show hundreds of people flocking to the shoreline waiting to be transported.
Food and other supplies have been landing in Antigua, including a large shipment from Venezuela which arrived late yesterday on a national cargo plane.
