[AMcWhirter]

Pics appearing on twitter show that Saint Martin’s airport has been wrecked by Hurricane Irma.

@airplusnews tweets “The runway of the airport of Saint Martin SXM unusable and invaded by the sand, rocks and debris following Huricana Irma.”

[slotski]

A real shame. Another article here

Maho Beach, Before and After: Hurricane Irma Destroys an AvGeek Paradise

[Edski777]

The runway has been cleared by hand by Dutch Marines that came in after the passage of hurricane Irma. Friday a Dutch coastguard plane landed and since then relief flights have started. More military personnel and police is flown in from Curacao and Aruba to stabilize the situation and provide the first aid with food and water. They also provide much needed security. Saturday more flights are expected with even more police, military personnel and relief workers.
People have been evacuated from the hospital, which is badly damaged, and flown to Curacao and Aruba. Also several people wounded during the passage of the hurricane have been evacuated.
Hurricane Irma has damaged communication lines and around 70% of the infrastructure.
The airport is expected to close again on Saturday evening when the next hurricane, Jose, is expected to hit the island.
People will again have to go into the shelters and hope for the best.

Most hotels on both the Dutch and French sides of St. Martin have been devastated. It will take a long time to recover and become the tropical paradise it was. The fun a lot of people, me included, had on Maho Beach, watching the planes come in and take off will return, but we will have to wait for a while. In the mean time: let’s do what we can to support the people on St. Martin and the surrounding islands that have been hit by this force of nature.

[Author]

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