The French caribbean is being hit by another cat5, Martinique close and Guadeloupe closer (Dominica is taking a direct hit).

Of course all the help had left those islands to go to Saint Martin. It's going to be messy.

Hurricane Maria? The same for the small Dutch Caribbean islands of Saba and Sint Eustatius they will be hit later this day. Will be cat5 when it hits.

As for Sint Maarten, no direct hit but again lots of rain and storm forces. Third hurricane within weeks.

Curacao will be a coordination center for the whole Caribbean.

You mean Dutch Caribbeans I guess?

Olddog wrote:

You mean Dutch Caribbeans I guess?

I think "whole Caribbean" is taking it a step too far, but it's a fair assessment for the Lesser Antilles, many of whom are still territories or Commonwealth territories and could use assistance from their EU protectors/partners. In the case of the Dutch, English, and French territories, why not set up Curaçao as the center of operations? I would have recommended PR, except Maria is poised to be the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall since San Felipe II (Okeechobee Hurricane) back in 1928. Needless to say, it will not be a pretty picture. So if all of the eastern islands have been affected by a storm in some manner, setting at an island that has the infrastructure, abides by Dutch laws (and by extension, EU laws), and is out of harm's way during storm season, to be the center of coordination is not a bad idea.

AN124 is ready on EINDHOVEN AB to fly to CUR to offload relief goods (88tons), among them 2 garbage trucks.

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/ ... nt-maarten

https://twitter.com/ElanorBoekholt/stat ... 28/photo/1

I mean that I doubt that France need to rely on Curacao, with all the French islands and French Guyana as backup. News here never talk about it.

Olddog wrote:

I mean that I doubt that France need to rely on Curacao, with all the French islands and French Guyana as backup. News here never talk about it.

Are the French islands in shape after Irma and Maria? Does French Guiana have the infrastructure?

Dutchy wrote:

AN124 is ready on EINDHOVEN AB to fly to CUR to offload relief goods (88tons), among them 2 garbage trucks.

Cool picture, but I guess I don't grasp the benefit of the garbage trucks. If removing trash/debris from damaged buildings is an issue, and you're a tiny island, presumably the debris needs to come off the island at some point, right? How much good can the garbage trucks do that regular dump trucks can't? If I'm not considering something, please enlighten me.

einsteinboricua wrote:

Olddog wrote:

I mean that I doubt that France need to rely on Curacao, with all the French islands and French Guyana as backup. News here never talk about it.

Are the French islands in shape after Irma and Maria? Does French Guiana have the infrastructure?

Probably, I mean the EASA rockets are launched from there.

LittleFokker wrote:

I don't grasp the benefit of the garbage trucks.

Neither do I. And why emergency airlift garbage trucks to Curaçao anyway? Curaçao is about 300 miles away from the storm track.

einsteinboricua wrote:

Are the French islands in shape after Irma and Maria? Does French Guiana have the infrastructure?

I guess you are joking right? French Guyana is totally able to support the reconstruction. Contrary to Dutch Guyana , it is still a part of France and with Kourou launch base it should stay like that for some years

Besides Martinique and Guadeloupe sustained relatively minor damages.

salttee wrote:

LittleFokker wrote:

I don't grasp the benefit of the garbage trucks.

Neither do I. And why emergency airlift garbage trucks to Curaçao anyway? Curaçao is about 300 miles away from the storm track.

I suppose it depends on the nature of the refuse or material to be disposed of.

Those large garbage trucks can compress a large amount of material for efficient removal/disposal.

Olddog wrote:

einsteinboricua wrote:

Are the French islands in shape after Irma and Maria? Does French Guiana have the infrastructure?

I guess you are joking right? French Guyana is totally able to support the reconstruction. Contrary to Dutch Guyana , it is still a part of France and with Kourou launch base it should stay like that for some years

Besides Martinique and Guadeloupe sustained relatively minor damages.

There is no such thing as Dutch Guyana, there is French Guyana, part of France indeed, there is Guyana (used to be part of the Brittish empire) and there is Surinam, which used to be part of The Netherlands.

Yes and in France we use both names for the Dutch part.

Dutchy wrote:

Olddog wrote:

einsteinboricua wrote:

Are the French islands in shape after Irma and Maria? Does French Guiana have the infrastructure?

I guess you are joking right? French Guyana is totally able to support the reconstruction. Contrary to Dutch Guyana , it is still a part of France and with Kourou launch base it should stay like that for some years

Besides Martinique and Guadeloupe sustained relatively minor damages.

There is no such thing as Dutch Guyana, there is French Guyana, part of France indeed, there is Guyana (used to be part of the Brittish empire) and there is Surinam, which used to be part of The Netherlands.

Just to clarify there were originally the three. British Guiana,French Guiana and Dutch Guiana. After independence from their colonial rulers the British part renamed Guyana. The Dutch part was renamed Surinam and the French part retained the name and remained a French overseas Department.

Interesting, now I learn something about my own countries history. But that doesn't seem right though. The name Dutch Guyana wasn't the name of Surinam, but rather a group of colonies. The name Dutch Guyana was never an official term, according to this wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_col ... he_Guianas

But we digress a bit from a rather serious subject.

Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius have escaped the full force of hurricane Maria. It will hit Puerto Rico and other islands. A very bad hurricane season.

Dutchy wrote:

AN124 is ready on EINDHOVEN AB to fly to CUR to offload relief goods (88tons), among them 2 garbage trucks.

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/ ... nt-maarten

https://twitter.com/ElanorBoekholt/stat ... 28/photo/1

Gotta love how the AN124 fits two trucks next to each other.

Dutchy wrote:

Interesting, now I learn something about my own countries history. But that doesn't seem right though. The name Dutch Guyana wasn't the name of Surinam, but rather a group of colonies. The name Dutch Guyana was never an official term, according to this wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_col ... he_Guianas

It can be confusing. My Dad is from Guyana so I know the history of the Guianas. Growing up we were taught about it. Older generations of my family ( 70+ ) would refer to it as Dutch Guiana but all the rest Suriname. Interesting to note that in the former British Guiana ( Guyana ) which was also Dutch at one stage still retains the Dutch names such as New Amsterdam and other Dutch place names along with British ones.

OA260 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

Interesting, now I learn something about my own countries history. But that doesn't seem right though. The name Dutch Guyana wasn't the name of Surinam, but rather a group of colonies. The name Dutch Guyana was never an official term, according to this wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_col ... he_Guianas

It can be confusing. My Dad is from Guyana so I know the history of the Guianas. Growing up we were taught about it. Older generations of my family ( 70+ ) would refer to it as Dutch Guiana but all the rest Suriname. Interesting to note that in the former British Guiana ( Guyana ) which was also Dutch at one stage still retains the Dutch names such as New Amsterdam and other Dutch place names along with British ones.

Well, the Dutch were everywhere. We were thé world power to beat. the WIC, West Indische Compagny, didn't do as well as the VOC. And as with all colonies, my forefathers did some rather unpleasant things in these colonies.

Found an article that gives more detail on the damage to SXM.

https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/6 ... to-airport