Hurricane Irma — the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record — unleashed catastrophic rain, wind, and storm surges across the Caribbean, leaving a trail of devastation from Barbuda to Cuba. Here’s an inside look at USAID’s disaster relief efforts.

USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance officially activated a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) on September 7, 2017 as Hurricane Irma barreled across the Caribbean. USAID had been actively monitoring the storm as it formed in the Atlantic, and members of the DART pre-deployed to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, and The Bahamas ahead of Irma making landfall.

We also activated locally-based disaster specialists living in countries along Irma’s path. This enabled the DART to coordinate with local authorities and humanitarian organizations on the ground before the storm hit and to begin assessing the damage as soon as conditions allowed.

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