The Virgin Islands: Hurricane Irma has left the trees devastated in the islands so much so that the pictures recorded by satellite sees a new set of images with a new colour. These natural-colour images were captured by the Landsat 8 satellite before and after the storm hit.
The NASA Earth Observatory has released astonishing images showing islands in the Caribbean before and after Hurricane Irma struck.
Barbuda, Anguilla, the Virgin Islands, and Cuba were worst hit by the storm. Some of whose structures got 90% damage. “Wild isolation that made St. Barts, St. Martin, Anguilla and the Virgin Islands vacation paradises has turned them into cutoff, chaotic nightmares in the wake of Hurricane Irma,” reports Business Insider.
According to NASA science writer Kathryn Hansen, the visible browning of the islands could be a result of strong winds, which reached speeds of 185 mph and tore plants and trees from the earth. The salt spray whipped onto the island by the hurricane also likely dried out the leaves on trees — causing them to turn brown.
Some islands looked better, vegetation on the west of Virgin Gorda (above) appears greener than the rest of the island probably because of shielding by hills in the island center.
Barbuda was the first island in the Caribbean to get pounded by the category 5 storm. Irma totally demolished the island, according to the nation’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne. The devastation could cost $100 million to repair, Browne said.
Barbuda’s sister island of Antigua, however, appears better off. While the north of Antigua had to suffer less. The day after Irma passed, electricity had been restored in Antigua and the island’s airport was reopened.