Six years after Irma’s devastation, Barbudans still wait for several government buildings to be restored

Six years after Hurricane Irma decimated the 62-square-mile sister-
island of Barbuda, several government buildings remain in a state of
disrepair, according to Councilman John Mussington.

This week, Barbudans are recalling the devastation of the category
5-plus storm that virtually flattened the island on September 5 and
6, 2017, forcing the evacuation of all residents to mainland Antigua.
Yet, at this stage, Mussington says, the people of Barbuda are still not
back to normalcy – that is, to where they were before the storm –
and still not the best that they can be.

He says it is a disgrace that the police station, six years on, has not
been repaired, and even the historic ginnery that housed the Council
Hall has been left to become rundown.

Meanwhile, Mussington says that the sandbar in the area of Louis
Beach, which was damaged by the hurricane, is in further jeopardy if
another storm hits the island.
 
In addition, he notes that several other areas on Barbuda have not
been able to recover properly following the passage of Hurricane

Irma.   And those areas are now being destroyed because of sand
mining.
 
At present, the country and the region are in the full swing of the
2023 Hurricane Season. And foremost on the minds of Barbudans,
Mussington says, is that they are not able to withstand the impact of
another major storm.
 
He says he is longing for the day when the memory of Irma will be a
distant one because the island would have fully recovered.