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Branson shares Hurricane Irma photos detailing destruction

Rescuers on the French side said at least eight people died and some 95 percent of homes were destroyed.

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Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who visited Dutch territories on Monday, spoke of his horror at what he found.

He said that more than half-a-million British nationals have been in the path of the hurricane and that 997 British military personnel are now in the Caribbean helping with the relief effort.

He promised to rebuild St. Martin as a “model island” that would be a “showcase of French excellence” and to take steps to diversify its economy so it’s less reliant on tourism.

“It’s sad when you come home to this”, she said as she began to cry.

“We have had some help from the Americans but they of course have their own problems”.

Mr Johnson said hundreds more troops were being deployed to the region, reaching 1,250 in the coming days.

British Virgin Islands (BVI) Premier Orlando Smith said in a statement: “Rebuilding an entire territory is no small undertaking”. Damage caused by the massive storm will cost an estimated $300 million to fix the tiny islands of Barbuda and Antigua alone.

Some of the tourism-dependent islands, after days without electricity and with food and water supplies, have drifted close to lawlessness.

Almost a third of all buildings on the Dutch half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin were destroyed and more than 90%damaged by Hurricane Irma.

Rules that stop British aid cash being used to help victims of Hurricane Irma are being reviewed amid claims that five times more could have been sent to support overseas territories hit by the natural disaster. Cuba is often hit by hurricanes that strike the Caribbean.

“I am heading back to the British Virgin Islands from Puerto Rico to assess the situation on the ground, help mobilise support, meet with officials and distribute aid”, Branson wrote in a new blog update.

“People are concerned, there is a general sense that [the British Virgin Islands] is British government territory and therefore the British will handle it”, Khin-Sandi Lwin, who is leading UNICEF’s Caribbean efforts, told The Guardian.

At least 37 people were killed in the Caribbean, with 12 dead in Florida, four killed in SC and two in Georgia.

“This was the worst of the storms I have been through, and the sea rose much higher”, Pulpito said.

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Johnson will visit the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, both United Kingdom overseas territories which were badly damaged by the storm that made landfall in the region on September 6, reports BBC.

Damage is seen here after Hurricane Irma slammed the Caribbean island of Barbuda