‘Irma’ forces cruise ships to other areas

Caribbean and southern Florida islands swamped or leveled by Hurricane Irma have left local travel agencies scrambling to re-book customers for new destinations months and years in advance.

Last week, Irma rolled over the northern Caribbean with Category-5 force, leaving at least 25 people dead and damaging or destroying nearly every structure on islands including Antigua, Barbuda, the US and British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos, Saint Barts and Saint Martin. Thousands were left homeless and infrastructure was heavily damaged.