Catherine MacGillivray, media officer for the Cayman Islands Government, previously worked for Scottish Provincial Press which publishes the Inverness Courier and the Highland News.

Although the Cayman Islands, which are a British Overseas Territory, were spared the storms, neighbouring islands including Anguilla, Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands were pummelled by the category five hurricane.

The Cayman Islands are now at the heart of a humanitarian mission to help those affected.

The islands’ government has been working with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to help provide security and humanitarian aid to other British Overseas Territories devastated by the hurricane

The United States military relief operation is also being staged from Grand Cayman where helicopters have been taking off on aid missions.

“Mercifully we escaped the wrath of Irma with only rough seas and a strong breeze on Sunday when the storm was hitting Florida about 250 miles to the north of us,” Ms MacGillivray said.

“However, the utter devastation wrought on the islands to the north and east of us is heartbreaking.

“It brings back memories of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 when Grand Cayman was laid waste by the category five storm.

“I was here for that and will never forget leaving the shelter to apocalyptic scenes that looked as if a bomb had been dropped on the island, blowing up the buildings, flattening all the trees and turning everything else into piles of rubble.

“Large parts of the island were also under sea water from the storm surge at that time. It took years to rebuild and some places are still scarred by the hurricane.”

Ms MacGillivray also witnessed at first-hand the aftermath of another powerful and devastating tropical cyclone which hurtled across the region last autumn.

“When Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti last October, I flew on a mercy flight with a Cayman Islands Government delegation to deliver aid supplies which had been collected and donated by the people of the Cayman Islands,” Ms MacGillivray said.

Along with other Cayman residents, she was aware that Irma could have taken a path to their islands and was also conscious that in the peak of the hurricane season no one knew where the next storm would strike.

Having previously experienced the devastation and despair left in the aftermath of a hurricane, the Cayman Islands Government chartered a Cayman Airways jet earlier this week for a humanitarian mission to Anguilla.

It was loaded with critical medicines, medical supplies, shelter materials and other essentials, including non-perishable food, sanitation supplies and drinking water.

Also on board was a delegation led by Premier Alden McLaughlin.

“We in Cayman know what a devastating hurricane can do to an island, having lived through Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Paloma in 2008,”  Mr McLaughlin said.

“Anguilla is one of our sister British Overseas Territories and we have a duty to assist them in their time of need.”

The delegation also included teams from the health services authority, Health City Cayman Islands and Hazard Management Cayman Islands.

Frontline members of the mission are expected to remain for two weeks.

They include medical teams of two doctors, eight nurses and an emergency medical technician who will help provide much-needed relief to their counterparts in Anguilla.

The force of the hurricane severely damaged Anguilla’s main medical facility, the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Ms MacGillivray said the Cayman Islands were also giving help to the British Virgin Islands.

A contingent of 16 officers from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) had been dispatched following an urgent request from  the British Virgin Islands governor for reinforcements to help the local police.

A detachment of police officers from the UK had since joined them.

The RCIPS helicopter, meanwhile, was dispatched to Turks and Caicos within 24 hours’ notice and arrived immediately after Hurricane Irma on Saturday.

It  had helped with aerial reconnaissance and support.

The crew had completed 35 flights, including two medical evacuations and visited all islands to check on residents, delivering supplies and water, and carrying out damage assessments. They were joined this week by an advance UK Military team and were now helping in assessments to establish aid, engineering and reconstruction plans.

Steve Fitzgerald, executive officer of the air operations unit, believed the rapid response had made a difference.

“The deployment request from the UK Foreign Office was a challenge at 24 hours’ notice, but we made it happen with the help of many people,” he said.

“We feel that our ability to arrive so early and equipped to immediately start operational support has made a real difference to people on the ground.”

Ms MacGillivray has lived on the Cayman Islands on and off since 2004 but has retained close links with the Highlands and Islands.

She has been a media officer with the Cayman Islands Government for two years. Prior to that, she was a magazine editor with a publishing group on the island.

Ms MacGillvray said she had been contacted by many people since Irma struck the region, wanting to check that she was okay.

IMAGE :photo taken from the Royal Cayman Islands Police helicopter shows the destruction in Turks and Caicos.

For more on this story go to: http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/Heartbreak-in-wake-of-Irma-15092017.htm