US Virgin Islands governor: Recovery will take years

But Mr Johnson said such criticism was "completely unjustified".

Antigua, Barbuda's sister island and home to about 80,000 people, was spared the brunt of the storm.

With ports mended and weather cleared, officials sent in more aid and arranged stepped-up evacuations Monday in remote Caribbean islands devastated and cut off by Hurricane Irma.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is on his way to the Caribbean to visit some of the devastated areas of after the United Kingdom was criticized for not involving in the humanitarian missions after the extreme phenomenon has swept everything in its way.

Almost all of the state was engulfed by the massive Hurricane Irma.

In the British Virgin Islands, prisoners had escaped in Tortola and seized guns.

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, whose private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands was ravaged by Irma, proposed creating a "Disaster Recovery Marshall Plan" for area to help aid in the recovery and reconstruction of the region.

He added that HMS Ocean, Britain's biggest warship in service, is heading to the Caribbean and should be there within 10 days.

The youngest to die as a direct result of Hurricane Irma was 27-year-old Yolendis Castillo Martines, killed when a balcony fell off a building and onto the bus in which she was traveling.

Elsewhere in the Caribbean, the USA has evacuated approximately 1,200 Americans from Dutch-administered St. Marteen in the last 24 hours, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Sunday.

"But hundreds of dedicated British public servants are doing their utmost to help, and they will not relent in their efforts". I'm a former Marine.

Jose, a Category 4 storm, had been passing north of the outer Caribbean islands and is expected to move away Saturday night, the National Hurricane Center said.

Simultaneous with Hurricanes Irma and Harvey response efforts, the Guard is deployed in the defense of our nation and across five continents in support of the Department of Defense.

She said it was "alarming" that nearly a week had passed since the hurricane and Mr Duncan was "still talking about the potential evacuation of British citizens". Cellphone service has been spotty on the island and many are without power.

The consulate said it was working with the US and other governments to try to figure out how to get the Americans off the island either by air or boat.