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French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in the Caribbean on Tuesday promising to rebuild the French territories ravaged by Hurricane Irma.
Speaking on the tarmac of the airport at Pointe a Pitre in Guadeloupe, one of France’s overseas territories, Macron defended criticism that France was not prepared.
He pointed out that at the last minute the Category 3 storm they were expecting to land on Guadeloupe turned into a Category 5 and rammed St. Martin instead, 260 kilometers (about 160 miles) away. He plans to visit that beleaguered island later in the day.
“I am here to talk about reconstruction,” he said. “When such a thing happens, life is never the same again. I want to rebuild not just a new life but also a better life.”
Macron said 11 people were killed in the French territories of St. Barts and St. Martin. That brings the death toll of Irma in the Leeward Islands and Cuba to at least 38.
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He said France had set up the biggest airlift to mainland France since the Second World War, with 2,000 people having left for the country or another French territory.
