A personal story of Hurricane Irma's devastation in the British Virgin Islands

In late August 2017, a tropical wave (disturbance in the atmosphere that could become a Tropical Depression) moved off the coast of Africa. On Aug. 31, I got a Facebook Message from my friend Mahde Said, who lives in the British Virgin Islands. He is a weather enthusiast and has been a long-time fan of AccuWeather on Facebook and sends us weather photos and reports from his location. He had received an alert on his phone from the DDM (Department of Disaster Management) that read:

“Tropical Alert: Disturbance 1 (also called 92L) could pass close to the BVI Saturday night into Sunday as a tropical depression or storm. A message from DDM.”

He followed it with:

I replied.

On the morning of Sept. 3, I posted an image showing forecast tracks for Hurricane Irma to my WeatherMatrix Facebook Page. The models continued to trend south and we could no longer say that the northern islands would not get (at least) hurricane-force winds.

The forecast continued to worsen and by Sept. 5, Hurricane Irma tied for the second-highest sustained winds (185 mph) ever measured in the Atlantic basin, as it approached the Caribbean islands. At this time, our map projected that Irma would hit, as a Category 5 hurricane, very close to the British Virgin Islands with "Devastating Impact."

It was now time for the islands to prepare for a life-changing storm that threatened to nearly wipe them off the map. (Mahde is not only a resident of the islands; here he is pictured with His Excellence Augustus Jaspert, Governor of the British Virgin Islands, helping prepare the night before the storm).

The last Facebook Message I got from Mahde was at 7:53 AM Sept. 6:

He had seen some of the incredible videos from the destruction of Anguilla and St. Barts, and said he hoped that his island would receive the support they needed after the storm, but I could tell that the level of destruction worried him. I replied that he should keep his family in a safe space and “strap down.”

I didn’t hear from Mahde again until Sept. 10. I was worried, but I also realized there would be no way to contact the outside world for several days after the storm on the group of small islands. That morning, he sent me incredible damage photos and said simply

This was what was left of the homes on the mountain:

And streets:

Look closely at those photos. Note that the trees have had all branches and leaves removed, something that is usually seen in the damage path of large tornadoes. The previously green landscape has been turned brown.

I asked Mahde to take the time, when he was able, to write down his thoughts about that fateful day when Hurricane Irma destroyed his home and business, and almost killed him and his family. This is what he wrote:

“I, Mahde Said of the British Virgin Islands, would like to share my experience with the public of the passing of Hurricane Irma in the BVI on the 6th of September 2017.

- Mahde Said

This is what the

of Mahde's house looked like after the storm:

He took this video of Road Town, Tortola BVI on September 14, a week after the storm:

Mahde and his family had the means to leave the island and decided to visit family in Palestine for a few weeks, to avoid any potential civil unrest, and to not suffer without necessities.

Unbelievably, two weeks after Irma, while he was still away from the islands, Hurricane Maria passed south of the BVI as a Category 5 storm, shortly thereafter devastating Puerto Rico. Fortunately, the eye of the storm was far enough away that winds were lower, and although any repairs or recovery was set back in the BVI, little additional damage was done by the wind, Mahde’s relatives reported. The roads on the western parts of the island were damaged worse than during Irma, however, because of the different direction of the storm surge there.

The British Virgin Islands, of course, are no stranger to hurricanes. Dozens of the storms have affected the islands since records began in 1842… but since 1933,

had passed within 50 nautical miles of Road Town, Tortola: Donna in 1960, Hugo in 1989 (which also devastated Puerto Rico on a similar track to Maria), Omar in 2008, and Earl in 2010. Only two major hurricanes in 1867 and 1871 (nearly 150 years ago) had passed over the BVI (within 25 miles of Road Town), and they were only Category 3 storms. A storm the strength of Hurricane Irma had never, since records began, taken a track so close to the BVI, much less two Category 5 storms in two weeks! (The only Category 5 storm on record in the area was an unnamed hurricane in 1928, which took a track similar to Hurricane Maria 2017.)

Fast forward to Nov. 12, 2017, 67 days after Hurricane Irma. Mahde and his family have returned to BVI to face the task of rebuilding. Mahde sends me a drone video and explains:

Here are photos of his store:

He continued:

Mahde took a drone video of Road Town, Tortola, BVI. The amount of damage remaining (more than two months later) is incredible.

Flash flooding occurs with some frequency on the BVI. Heavy tropical rainfalls (even outside of a tropical system), combined with hills as high as 1,700 feet on Tortola, combine to cause this. But since the hurricanes this year, every flood was made worse due to the damage the massive wind storms caused. Similar to what Californians deal with after a forest fire, the BVI had massive runoff because Hurricane Irma had literally stripped the trees of all of their leaves (something only seen with the strongest hurricanes), speeding up the amount of rainwater sent to the ground, and also helped to clog existing drainage mitigation and bodies of water. An example of the flash flooding is shown in the video below, taken by Mahde's brother, Samer Said:

After Hurricane Maria destroyed much of Puerto Rico, the BVI lost media attention to their suffering, but more of the people's stories are starting to get some media attention now, and I hope to add to that with this blog. Just this week, Britain's Prince Charles visited and reaffirmed the country's commitment to the Caribbean aid package, now £92 million. Ironically, heavy rain and flooding greeted him on arrival. Mahde met with the Prince and took this photo of him shown below.

The Guardian reports on the immense waste problem after 2,000 boats were destroyed and roofs were ripped off of nearly every house. The Premiere is telling his story of how he barely survived and his recommendation that the residents prepare to take shelter in an interior room -- something usually for strong twisters in tornado alley -- may have helped keep the death count low. A policeman from the U.K. who was assigned to the BVI for a month described the destruction as similar to the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. With no power or water, half of the residents of Jost Van Dyke island have fled. (UPDATE 11/29: 168 people are still in shelters, nearly 3 months after the storm).

The environmental disaster will change the British Virgin Islands forever, and we won't know exactly how for years. Animal species were nearly wiped out. New plant species may reign supreme while the forests recover.

I asked Mahde if he would stay on the islands during a Category 5 hurricane again. "No way. Not even for a Cat 3."

For those who can't afford to leave, Mahde says the DDM is refortifying shelters to be more resilient.

You can donate to relief funds for the BVI at this link.

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