[Telegraph] British couple have been hiding in a rat infested bathroom with no water for five days as the Caribbean island they were living on descends into lawlessness in the wake of Hurricane Irma, their family have said. Jos Smart, 26, and his girlfriend Julia Taylor, 30, say they have been abandoned by the British Government and are too afraid to leave the half destroyed hotel that they found refuge in amid reports of looting and violence.
The Category 5 storm hit the island on Wednesday and it has since been placed under curfew to try and restore order.
British Troops and police officers have been sent to help the British Virgin Islands (BVI), but families of those on St Maarten, which is Dutch and shares the island with the French St Martin to the north, say that because it is not a British territory their loved ones have been abandoned.
Perhaps because the responsibility for rescuing people from Dutch territory lies with the Dutch?
Well, Julia does appear to be quite a legitimate distraction from the weather.