UK declares emergency in storm-hit Virgin Islands, sends aid

Britain flew additional aid supplies to the Caribbean on Friday after Hurricane Irma flattened homes and schools and flooded hospitals, causing the British Virgin Islands to declare a state of emergency.

The governor of the islands, Gus Jaspert, said in a message to the archipelago, whose 28,000 inhabitants took the full force of the mega-storm, that there had "sadly been reports of casualties and fatalities".

Britain sent a C-17 military transport plane with 50 troops and humanitarian aid on board, heading to Barbados and the British Virgin Islands, while another was to head to the Caribbean later Friday, officials said.

A military ship is also nearby offering assistance, while another laden with more aid has been diverted from the Mediterranean.

Sharon Flax-Brutus, director of tourism for the British Virgin Islands, said that the damage was difficult to assess because communications were down, but that "many homes are without roofs, or have been diminished to merely foundations".

Teresa Brooks, a 23-year-old photographer in London, said her family on nearby Anguilla, another self-governing British territory hit by the storm, reported a "complete disaster".

"The hospital is not functioning properly as it lost its roof during the hurricane and started to flood. The majority of the schools have been complete destroyed," she told AFP in an email.

"Shops have been destroyed as well so there will be no food available. The majority of the poles for electricity have been destroyed so there will be no power for months.

"Tourism -- which is Anguilla's main industry -- will be down for months as most hotels have been destroyed and so there will be no income for many months."

In Turks and Caicos, another British territory struck by the hurricane, the disaster agency said on Twitter: "National shutdown has been declared. All residents & tourists are instructed to stay indoors."

SS