Americas

Since Hurricane Maria crashed through the Caribbean last month, most of the attention has focused on Puerto Rico. But smaller nearby islands were even harder hit. Especially Dominica. It was the first to feel Maria’s Category 5, 160-mph winds. They demolished the country, leaving 27 dead, 50 still missing – and the population of 71,000 still with little access to food, water and power.

Before Hurricane Irma ravaged Cuba’s north coast last month, Carla León’s private business – renting her family’s three-bedroom house in Havana through Airbnb – had already begun losing customers thanks to another force of nature: Donald Trump.

Earlier this year, two of Trinidad and Tobago's  soca superstars teamed up for the Carnival single “Buss Head,” and now they’re teaming up again in Miami —this time for a philanthropic cause.

Hundreds of anxious South Floridians swarmed the Port Everglades cruise terminal Tuesday morning to welcome a cruise ship transformed into a relief vessel: Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas.

Its storm-weary cargo:  nearly 4,000 evacuees from Puerto Rico and the U-S Virgin Islands fleeing the ravages of Hurricanes Maria and Irma.

The ship represented a new start for some, reunification for others after the one-two punch of hurricanes smashed the Caribbean with devastating force last month, leaving millions without power, homes or jobs.

The C130's four propeller engines scream as it lifts lifts off from MacDill Air Force base in Tampa. The plane is loaded with pallets of medical supplies bound for St. Croix, nine days after the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands took a direct hit from Hurricane Maria.

But the flight's true mission is getting patients in critical need of health care off the island and into hospitals in Columbia, South Carolina and Atlanta.

So far, hundreds of patients have been brought to those hospitals along with facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Standing outside his church in Palmetto Bay on Sunday, Jesus Figueroa listened intently to information coming across his iPhone from Puerto Rico on Zello. The walkie-talkie app transmits messages on group channels when cell phone service is a challenge – and in Puerto Rico right now it’s an epic ordeal.

The Florida Roundup concentrated this week on the recovery efforts after Hurricane Irma. Guests included: 

Marlon Hill, a Miami-based attorney, stepped to the microphone on Wednesday evening at Holy Family Episcopal Church in Miami Gardens, a longtime hub for Miami’s Caribbean Community, and urged action.

“People at work, people at your church, people at your backyard fete, tell them that you are part of the Caribbean Strong Relief Fund and organize supplies. Get them to us,” he told the approximately 100 people gathered there.