Hurricane Luis-Destruction
9-9-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Only days ago, St. Martin was a pristine vacation spot for wealthy tourists. On Saturday, the island was a jumble of ripped apart yachts, houseboats and shantytowns as rescuers searched for dozens of people believed missing in the wake of Hurricane Luis.
Telephone and power poles toppled Thursday by 130-mph winds and nine-foot surf were still down, and authorities conceded many more people may have died than the official death tolls indicate.
The hurricane tossed hundreds of yachts and houseboats across piers and beaches. It trashed airports and jetties, washed away roads and uprooted trees.
As the storm churned toward Bermuda on Saturday, the official death toll on five islands was 14.
"The figure could rise," said Jan Meijer, a Dutch government spokesman in The Hague, the Netherlands.
"We know that a very large percentage of the houses are severely damaged," he said. "We are not sure what we will find under the mess."
The Netherlands administers one side of the island, called St. Maarten, as part of the Netherlands Antilles; the other side, St. Martin, is French territory.
Dutch authorities closed the border, imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew and allowing only relief planes to land. American Airlines began flying residents only to the island on commercial flights Saturday.
Authorities also turned back chartered helicopters with reporters on board, making it impossible to confirm the hurricane's toll. Authorities told some American reporters that they were tired of the negative publicity.
French authorities, who initially reported eight deaths on the French side and seven on the Dutch, said Friday they could only confirm eight deaths on the entire island. Radio France Outre-Mers said there were 30 deaths.
"Our priority is not to count the dead, but to help the living," said a man who answered the telephone at a St. Martin police station.
"Our priority is to find lodging for 2,000 homeless, medication and care for the wounded, and to clean up this mess," he said, refusing to give his name.
Ham radio operators reporting to the U.N. Amateur Radio Association could only account for 200 of 600 yachts believed to have been in Simpson Bay, on the Dutch side of the island.
Some yacht owners, most of whom are from North America and Europe, refused to abandon their vessels, some worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and tried to ride out the storm.
The U.S. consul general from the island of Curacao, Buddy Williams, was in St. Martin on Saturday and two consular officials from Washington were on their way, said Elaine McDevitt, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington.
She said U.S. officials had no confirmed reports of Americans injured or killed in the storm, and she was unaware of any plan to evacuate Americans from St. Martin.
Luis on Saturday was 325 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, moving north at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. It was expected to turn northeast on Sunday.
In Bermuda, residents prepared for their second pounding in a month, but there was no panic. Many had candles and canned food left over from Hurricane Felix, which brushed past on Aug. 15, causing $2.5 million in damage.
The storm was not expected to hit the U.S. mainland, but the National Weather Service warned of heavy surf and coastal flooding from Florida to southern New England.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Only days ago, St. Martin was a pristine vacation spot for wealthy tourists. On Saturday, the island was a jumble of ripped apart yachts, houseboats and shantytowns as rescuers searched for dozens of people believed missing in the wake of Hurricane Luis.
Telephone and power poles toppled Thursday by 130-mph winds and nine-foot surf were still down, and authorities conceded many more people may have died than the official death tolls indicate.
The hurricane tossed hundreds of yachts and houseboats across piers and beaches. It trashed airports and jetties, washed away roads and uprooted trees.
As the storm churned toward Bermuda on Saturday, the official death toll on five islands was 14.
"The figure could rise," said Jan Meijer, a Dutch government spokesman in The Hague, the Netherlands.
"We know that a very large percentage of the houses are severely damaged," he said. "We are not sure what we will find under the mess."
The Netherlands administers one side of the island, called St. Maarten, as part of the Netherlands Antilles; the other side, St. Martin, is French territory.
Dutch authorities closed the border, imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew and allowing only relief planes to land. American Airlines began flying residents only to the island on commercial flights Saturday.
Authorities also turned back chartered helicopters with reporters on board, making it impossible to confirm the hurricane's toll. Authorities told some American reporters that they were tired of the negative publicity.
French authorities, who initially reported eight deaths on the French side and seven on the Dutch, said Friday they could only confirm eight deaths on the entire island. Radio France Outre-Mers said there were 30 deaths.
"Our priority is not to count the dead, but to help the living," said a man who answered the telephone at a St. Martin police station.
"Our priority is to find lodging for 2,000 homeless, medication and care for the wounded, and to clean up this mess," he said, refusing to give his name.
Ham radio operators reporting to the U.N. Amateur Radio Association could only account for 200 of 600 yachts believed to have been in Simpson Bay, on the Dutch side of the island.
Some yacht owners, most of whom are from North America and Europe, refused to abandon their vessels, some worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and tried to ride out the storm.
The U.S. consul general from the island of Curacao, Buddy Williams, was in St. Martin on Saturday and two consular officials from Washington were on their way, said Elaine McDevitt, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington.
She said U.S. officials had no confirmed reports of Americans injured or killed in the storm, and she was unaware of any plan to evacuate Americans from St. Martin.
Luis on Saturday was 325 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, moving north at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. It was expected to turn northeast on Sunday.
In Bermuda, residents prepared for their second pounding in a month, but there was no panic. Many had candles and canned food left over from Hurricane Felix, which brushed past on Aug. 15, causing $2.5 million in damage.
The storm was not expected to hit the U.S. mainland, but the National Weather Service warned of heavy surf and coastal flooding from Florida to southern New England.
Comments
Post a Comment