Analysis: Post-Irma Recovery Efforts Present Significant Challenges for Florida Keys, USVI
Category: Natural Disasters
Severity: 3 (Moderate)
Source: Drum Cussac
09/18/2017 (United States) - Disaster relief efforts continue in the Florida Keys, St. Thomas and St. John on Monday, 18 September, in the wake of the passage of Hurricane Irma. Together, these locales - the former in the state of Florida and the latter two within the US Virgin Islands (USVI) hundreds of kilometres away - have been the parts of the US worst affected by Irma, as the hurricane hit the USVI as a Category 5 storm with 298kmh (185mph) winds and the Keys as a Category 4 storm with 209kmh (130mph) winds. However, destruction from Irma has spread far beyond these areas, as some 675,000 people remain without power in the state of Florida; outages were also registered in Georgia and South Carolina in the storm's aftermath. Within these three states, storm-related deaths have been estimated at 39 and have been rising due to complications from extreme heat as well as gas poisoning from backup generator usage. President Donald Trump visited Floridian peninsular cities on Friday to oversee relief efforts and survey the damage first-hand. Although he has also indicated that he will visit the USVI as well as neighbouring Puerto Rico for the same purposes, no trip has been publicly planned as of yet.
Though the Virgin Islands have received far less coverage in the press than has Irma's impact in Florida, the northern islands of St. Thomas and St. John have been described as devastated from Irma's passage though the US Caribbean on 6 September. The southern island of St. Croix received light damage but has largely already recovered; a similar situation exists for Puerto Rico, which was grazed by Irma and saw two-thirds of residents lose power in Irma's wake, though the satellite islands of Culebra and Vieques to the main island's east did suffer significant damage. Still, the destruction wrought on St. John and St. Thomas is considered extraordinary and, indeed, all-encompassing. St. John, the less developed of the two due to a large portion of the island being protected as a nature reserve, reportedly saw significant looting in the days following Irma, as infrastructure was destroyed and law enforcement personnel either sidelined or over-extended. St. Thomas, for its part, is also reported to have experienced a spike in looting and general robberies; its main hospital and airport, both of which residents of St. John also rely upon, were also damaged to varying degrees. The airport is expected to re-open sometime this week though authorities have not guaranteed it. Additionally, US cruise liners have been arriving at St. Thomas in order to take on travellers stranded on either of the islands. The vast majority of both islands remain without power which is expected to remain the case for weeks; much of St. John and some of St. Thomas also remains without running water. Officials have already directed those with children to look into temporarily relocating to St. Croix, if possible, in order to minimise further disruptions to islanders' school year. Many schools on St. Thomas and St. John were outright destroyed by Irma, and a timeline for beginning the school year there is entirely unclear. Damage is expected to be in the billions of dollars, complicating the financial outlook for the territory, which finds itself USD6.5 in debt.
Though Irma made landfall at Cudjoe Key in Florida on the US mainland at a lesser Category 4 strength, its impact within the Keys has been described as devastating. Officials have disagreed over the exact extent of the destruction, but low-end estimates indicate that at least 25 per cent of homes in the Keys have been destroyed. In general, the archipelago remains without power, though officials expect the Keys to take the longest in terms of restoration efforts. Authorities have also given the greenlight for usage of all of Highway 1's bridges that connect the Keys, though usage of much of the highway itself remains restricted to residents. Elsewhere in Florida, floodwaters remain a problem in coastal areas on both the Gulf side and Atlantic side due to the sheer size of Irma when the storm made landfall. It has been the storm's aftermath that has proven equally problematic for many on the peninsula, as eight individuals died in an assisted living facility that lost power during the storm and at least five have died elsewhere from carbon monoxide poisoning from backup generator usage. Concerns have also been raised regarding the presence of stagnant water in many areas that have been further complicated by the release of untreated or semi-treated wastewater from treatment facilities that lost power. However, there have also been some signs of normalcy returning, as schools are scheduled to reopen in Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Monday.
The overall impact of Irma on the US has been compounded by the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey late last month into early September in Texas and Louisiana. Significant federal resources had already been devoted to assisting those affected by Harvey, and Irma's impact will thus prove an important test for the Trump administration in terms of balancing efforts. Trump's initial response to both storms has received generally favourable reviews on the US mainland, though those in the Virgin Islands have claimed that federal resources arrived far later than expected. The economic impact is also still too soon to fully estimate, but officials have put the price tag of Harvey's and Irma's effects at up to USD200 billion. Congress has yet to pass an aid package as it did in the aftermath of Harvey, but is expected to do so in the short-term. Concerns over legislation efforts stalling are legitimate due to the high degree of polarisation within Congress, but public pressure is likely to overcome this obstacle. Indeed, in order to pass the Harvey aid package, Trump reached a deal with congressional Democrats that set a new, high-profile precedent for bipartisanship in the Trump era, though it is far from clear if such efforts will occur with more frequency in the future. With regards to Florida and the Virgin Islands specifically, the Keys as well as St. Thomas and St. John will remain in serious condition through the coming weeks, with recovery efforts in the Virgin Islands likely to last well through next year.
Copyright © 2024 Drum Cussac
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