Hurricane Luis St. Maarten
9-11-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) _ Less than a week after one of the century's most powerful hurricanes bore down on this Caribbean island, the sounds of pounding hammers resound as people begin to rebuild.
With winds up to 130 mph, Luis exploded homes on the Dutch-French island of 50,000 people and turned corrugated tin roofs into flying missiles and wrapped them around trees.
Debris was thrown hundreds of yards up hillsides that turned from green to brown as the storm stripped away vegetation Tuesday. Shantytowns became junkyards of mangled iron and plywood. Even cement and plaster buildings were demolished.
"All the houses is mashed up, man, but 99.9 percent of the people survived," said Charles Peltier, who lives in St. Peter, one of the worst-hit neighborhoods of the capital, Philipsburg.
On Sunday, people were already searching for usable lumber and metal among the debris to rebuild their homes. Haitians and Dominicans who live illegally in the shantytowns fetched buckets of water from cisterns and relief centers.
At Simpson's Bay Lagoon, where people were advised to take their boats for protection against the hurricane, frogmen cleared two sunken yachts from a channel into the sea and looked for bodies or possible survivors.
The Red Cross, while expecting the toll to rise, confirmed two dead in St. Maarten, and denied that bodies were found in the hundreds of smashed and sunken boats searched Saturday. In Amsterdam, the Dutch Interior Ministry reported five dead.
One person was killed on the French side of the island, said Capt. Jean Bonnerie, a doctor with the French air force. Damage there was not as widespread, though half the terminal at Grand-Case airport was demolished and planes were tossed into a nearby lagoon.
Radio Caraibe Internationale, broadcasting from Guadeloupe, reported 10 dead on the entire island, while Radio France Outre-Mers, the official French overseas radio station, reported as many as 30 dead.
The storm ripped up telephone poles, crumpled satellite dishes and nearly destroyed the island's electricity and water desalination plants, leaving islanders without power or communications and with little water.
Helicopters dangled water-filled bladders from their bellies and carryied desalination equipment from the Dutch ship Van Amstel. Trucks also were distributing water.
Red Cross volunteers put up military tents for the 5,000 to 7,000 homeless, many of whom have been sleeping in the streets.
Thousands of tourists continued their exodus from the island, waiting hours in the hot sun outside Princess Juliana airport terminal to go home or go anywhere.
"Families with children first," said a notice at the Pelican Resort and Casino, advising of flights out.
Dutch marines shouldering assault rifles controlled the stranded tourists jamming the airport and scared away looters sifting through foot-high debris in a supermarket.
Boeing 747s and other large jets began arriving Saturday, giving vacationers, mostly from Europe and the United States, their first chance to leave the island since the hurricane hit.
"It's such chaos," said Trevor Berringer, an attorney from Baltimore. "It didn't matter if you had a confirmed flight or not. You couldn't even get to the door (of the terminal)."
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) _ Less than a week after one of the century's most powerful hurricanes bore down on this Caribbean island, the sounds of pounding hammers resound as people begin to rebuild.
With winds up to 130 mph, Luis exploded homes on the Dutch-French island of 50,000 people and turned corrugated tin roofs into flying missiles and wrapped them around trees.
Debris was thrown hundreds of yards up hillsides that turned from green to brown as the storm stripped away vegetation Tuesday. Shantytowns became junkyards of mangled iron and plywood. Even cement and plaster buildings were demolished.
"All the houses is mashed up, man, but 99.9 percent of the people survived," said Charles Peltier, who lives in St. Peter, one of the worst-hit neighborhoods of the capital, Philipsburg.
On Sunday, people were already searching for usable lumber and metal among the debris to rebuild their homes. Haitians and Dominicans who live illegally in the shantytowns fetched buckets of water from cisterns and relief centers.
At Simpson's Bay Lagoon, where people were advised to take their boats for protection against the hurricane, frogmen cleared two sunken yachts from a channel into the sea and looked for bodies or possible survivors.
The Red Cross, while expecting the toll to rise, confirmed two dead in St. Maarten, and denied that bodies were found in the hundreds of smashed and sunken boats searched Saturday. In Amsterdam, the Dutch Interior Ministry reported five dead.
One person was killed on the French side of the island, said Capt. Jean Bonnerie, a doctor with the French air force. Damage there was not as widespread, though half the terminal at Grand-Case airport was demolished and planes were tossed into a nearby lagoon.
Radio Caraibe Internationale, broadcasting from Guadeloupe, reported 10 dead on the entire island, while Radio France Outre-Mers, the official French overseas radio station, reported as many as 30 dead.
The storm ripped up telephone poles, crumpled satellite dishes and nearly destroyed the island's electricity and water desalination plants, leaving islanders without power or communications and with little water.
Helicopters dangled water-filled bladders from their bellies and carryied desalination equipment from the Dutch ship Van Amstel. Trucks also were distributing water.
Red Cross volunteers put up military tents for the 5,000 to 7,000 homeless, many of whom have been sleeping in the streets.
Thousands of tourists continued their exodus from the island, waiting hours in the hot sun outside Princess Juliana airport terminal to go home or go anywhere.
"Families with children first," said a notice at the Pelican Resort and Casino, advising of flights out.
Dutch marines shouldering assault rifles controlled the stranded tourists jamming the airport and scared away looters sifting through foot-high debris in a supermarket.
Boeing 747s and other large jets began arriving Saturday, giving vacationers, mostly from Europe and the United States, their first chance to leave the island since the hurricane hit.
"It's such chaos," said Trevor Berringer, an attorney from Baltimore. "It didn't matter if you had a confirmed flight or not. You couldn't even get to the door (of the terminal)."
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