Great Bay — As a direct result of hurricane Irma which has devastated this 37 square mile island, many of its citizens will have a story to tell, some more compelling than the other. Michjel Jeune is just one of those persons. By Milton Pieters Jeune, a mother of two daughters who resides in one of the upstairs apartments located on Sea Island Cotton Drive, Cole Bay, had her first line of defense broken down when she asked her landlord to install hurricane shutters. As far as she was concerned, it was the right thing to do. “He said he…
Author: The Publisher
By Julie Alcin South Reward — “I walked around and got really sad, and as I sat staring at my classroom, I just wanted to cry, but the best way to deal with it is to get something and start cleaning,” says Derrick De Ruitte, a Geography Teacher who has been teaching at Milton Peters College (MPC) for one year and an half. MPC was left in ruins after Irma struck the island – leaving teachers to clean up behind its mess. The roofs of the classrooms were broken down and the floors were flooded.”I started with my bare hands.…
by Julie Alcin When a natural disaster occurs, there are two ways one can react: the right or the wrong way. Although there are people who choose to react by breaking into places and raiding everything as if there is an apocalypse leading to our impending doom, there are also those who manage to keep their calm and work hard to put things back together. There are those who lost everything, yet still find the strength to give anything. Most of us survived a category 5 hurricane when we didn’t think we would. But the affects were devastating, and for…
SXM Airport — Just as airlift is vital to St. Maarten’s tourism economy, so it is for the recovery process to normalize the situation on the island, to fly in aid and relief goods, food and water, to evacuate tourists and other temporary visitors, workers and their families and to offer an escape for those in urgent need of medical care, for those with young children and elderly family members and for those who have lost everything on the island during the passing of Hurricane Irma. Although the SXM Airport was badly damaged, the clean up of the runway was…
Cul-de-Sac — The day after Hurricane Irma passed word spread fast in the Cul-de-Sac area and beyond that Cake House Supermarket was giving out free bread to neighborhood residents. Residents were simply asked by the Cake House Supermarket manager, Rolex, to adhere to one simple rule: “Line up in an orderly fashion and no misbehaving, else we will stop giving out bread immediately.” Initially, the supermarket gave out two breads in a sack per person. But as more people came from as far as Sucker Garden and other districts, this amount was quickly rationed down to one bread per person.…
Philipsburg — The joint taskforce consisting of members representing the police forces from Aruba and Curacao, the Royal Marechaussee, the V.K.S., the Customs Department under the leadership the Sint Maarten Police Force continue to work diligently to maintain the safety and security situation on the Dutch side of the island totally under control. Joint patrols continue to carry out general controls and other safety and security checks continue to take place on a 24 hours basis. Police also continue to monitor the situation at all water and supplies distribution locations to make sure that this process takes place safe and…
GREAT BAY — On Thursday September 14th in the evening hours police arrested one male suspect identified with initials M.I. for looting. During his arrest a large quantity of stolen items were found in his possession. These items were all confiscated for further investigation. The suspect was taken to the Philipsburg Police Headquarters where he was placed into custody for further investigation. Info for business managers and owners The Police Department is hereby informing all business managers/owners that the curfew applies to everyone and that they should take all necessary measures to make sure their employees are allowed to leave…
AIRPORT — The air traffic control tower overlooking the Princess Juliana International SXM Airport was just one those essential buildings that was not damaged by hurricane Irma. Photos by TODAY photojournalist Milton Pieters
COLE BAY — Vehicles in all shapes and sizes can be seen waiting their turn to get $20’s worth of gas at the R&R Tackling Gas Station (Sol) earlier today. It was one of those rare opportunities for motorists to gas up when the curfew was officially lifted for a few hours. By Milton Pieters Manager at Tackling R&R Gas Station, Nathalie Tackling, spoke briefly about the current situation and how they plan to be of assistance. “We are trying to get ourselves up and running to the extent we are allowed to by law. Right now we have about…
PHILIPSBURG –A lot of pets have not survived hurricane Irma on St. Maarten. Luckily, there are many dogs who have managed to be evacuated together with their owners or with animal lovers. The four animal rescue organizations active on the island have managed to capture almost all dogs and cats that ran away, but for many others hurricane Irma proved to be fatal. The stench of rotting cadavers of dead animals, mostly buried under the rubbish, is unmistakable in certain places. Pets with stress “Before the storm, my family let our dogs loose,” says Terrance Rey, “and they immediately looked…
