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    The Virgin Islands, After Irma: 'It Was Like Stepping Onto Another Planet'

    In the U.S. and British territories, residents tell of winds that could rattle your bones — and of an aftermath like a "war zone." Here are portraits of the devastation, in the survivors' own words.
    by Colin Dwyer Sep 14, 2017 6 minutes
    The sun glares down on a severely damaged apartment unit in a St. Thomas high-rise on Tuesday. Many residents say they lost everything to the Category 5 storm, and days later they're still grappling with how to respond to the rampant destruction.

    Hurricane Irma arrived on the doorstep of the Virgin Islands just over a week ago. A Category 5 storm, historic in its terrible might, Irma shredded homes and hotels into the bare materials that made them, its winds scattering floorboards and roofs and light poles like so many matchsticks.

    Within a day, the storm had rendered the islands so unrecognizable, satellites could register the stark change from space. Where once the Virgin Islands — both U.S. and British — gleamed green in their lush vegetation, that vista is buried brown beneath uprooted trees and the debris of broken buildings.

    As nightmarish as those hours were, the days since have seemed a lifetime for many residents of the U.S. and British territories.

    "While there were some homes that survived — some lost just roofs — there are homes that are totally obliterated right down to the foundation," David Mapp, executive director of the Virgin Islands Port Authority, tells NPR's Jason Beaubien. "I mean, all you see is rubble."

    More than eight days after the storm

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