Feds say lack of airstrips, infrastructure slowed hurricane evacuations
OTTAWA — Federal ministers expressed sympathy Monday for the hundreds of Canadians affected by Hurricane Irma as well as their worried families back home, even as they sought to explain why more wasn’t done earlier to help them.
The government expected most Canadians needing assistance in the Caribbean to have been evacuated by commercial flights by the end of the day, including 90 from Turks and Caicos and 150 from St. Maarten.
Some humanitarian assistance was also being readied or already on the way to the region, with the expectation that much more would follow in the coming days, weeks and even months.
A special team from Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence is in Antigua to determine what help is needed after the region endured the one-two punch of hurricanes Irma and Jose.