Treasure Islands

FOR A TERRIFYING fortnight in September 2017, Hurricane Irma - a Category 5 storm - carved out an unimaginable path of destruction off the eastern seaboard of mainland America, thundering through the normally sun-washed stretch of the Caribbean before sweeping further west towards the American coastal counties and then inland towards Georgia and North Carolina.

After cutting through the eastern isles, Irma had arrived in the British Virgin Islands in the late morning of Sept 6, and by the time it swept west seven hours later, it had scored devastating scars on 80 per cent of the BVI. The total damage of those seven hours is conservatively estimated at around US$3.5 billion.

Now, nine months later, under a blue domed sky, the hurricane feels like a distant nightmare. Very slowly, the local community of 30,000 people scattered along the BVI - sixty-odd islands, islets and cays strung out like a jade-green necklace across 59 square miles of satin blue sea - are recovering.