Hurricane Irma has left a sad tale of death and destruction in its wake through the northern Leeward Islands, and that trek included a short stop in the British Virgin Islands, and on Richard Branson’s private island called Necker Island. His son has been posting photos and videos of the devastation and say what you want about the life of the uber-rich, the power of mother nature does not discriminate.
The Virgin boss along with 10 of his staff hid in his wine cellar to ride out the storm as the eye of the category five storm came right over Necker Island as well as Tortola.
Those are just some of the pictures from Sam Branson’s Instagram that tailed just some of the destruction in the British Virgin Islands that took a direct hit from the storm.
Branson’s descriptions of the days before Irma on his blog are chilling.
“All of us slept together in two rooms. I haven’t had a sleepover quite like it since I was a kid. Strangely, it’s a privilege to experience what is turning into possibly the strongest storm ever with such a great group of young people.
We were listening to the parrots in their boxes in the next room chattering away. Watching the tortoises congregating together, as if they sense what is coming our way,” he wrote.
Thankfully, there were no deaths on Necker Island from Irma though there was extensive damage to property. As Sam said, “homes can be rebuilt but lives can’t”.
Hopefully, other parts of the Caribbean and the southern US take heed and follow the advice of all local officials. Evacuate if you need to evacuate, have a plan in place and be safe. Nothing is worth risking your life over in a storm like this.
About Matt Lichtenstadter
Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.