Union Island was devastated as Hurricane Beryl moved across St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday.
“The reports that I have received indicate that 90% of the houses have been severely damaged or destroyed,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in a national address Monday night after the cyclone have moved out to the Caribbean Sea.
He said houses had suffered damage to their roofs and structures.
“The Union Island Airport roof is gone. It is no more,” Gonsalves said.
The government was yet to receive reports on the extent of damage in Mayreau and Canouan, two other southern Grenadine island, because of telecommunication problems there.
“But we expoect that in those areas there is a similar condition,” Gonsalves said, adding that the damage in the northern Grenadine island of Bequia was not as severe.
The prime minister said hundreds of houses on St. Vincent were severely damaged or destroyed.
“Roofs are gone. Government buildings, especially schools, there are some, at least two denominational schools, schools belonging to churches, where you have had severe damage.”
Earlier on Monday, Fitz Bramble, MP for East Kingstown, said he saw the hurricane peel off the roof of Bishop’s College, an Anglican secondary school in Kingstown.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves said that several churches were damaged, adding that he was told that the roof of Kingstown Baptist Church was severely damaged.
“Despite the destruction, despite the extraordinary devastation in Union Island, and we expect that Mayreau and Canouan would not be far behind in terms of the extent of damage, … we still have to thank Almighty God for all his blessing,” he said, noting that there was one reported death.
“It appears as though overwhelmingly our people have responded and reacted in a very responsible manner,” the prime minister said, adding that there were odd cases in which “you would have preferred that people didn’t act how they acted”.
He said governments from across the region have been expressing solidarity and President of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, had indicated that he would send supplies that are necessary immediately for reconstruction, especially in relation to housing.
“There are a lot of trees which have fallen, we have to get them out of the way,” Gonsalves said, adding that he was yet to get the assessment of the impact of hte hurricane on agricutulture, animal hubandry and fishing facilities.