Aid on way to battered islands as death toll rises

Published 8:10 am Tuesday, September 12, 2017

HAVANA — With ports mended and weather cleared, Caribbean officials struggled Monday to get aid to islands devastated by Hurricane Irma and tried to take stock of the damage.

At least 34 people were reported to have been killed in the region, including 10 in Cuba, whose northern coast was raked by the storm. Cuban state media said most of those died in Havana, where seawater surged deep into residential neighborhoods.

To the east, in the Leeward Islands known as the playground for the rich and famous, governments came under criticism for failing to respond quickly to the hurricane, which flattened towns and turned green hills to a brown stubble. Residents reported food, water and medicine shortages, as well as looting.

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British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson defended his government’s response and promised to increase funding for the relief effort. Britain sent a navy ship and  troops to the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos islands that were pummeled by the hurricane.