Hurricane Irma 225 MPH GUSTS - Save Coral Bay, St John USVI

If you have never been to St John it is a magical place only 11 miles wide and covered primarily by the Virgin Islands National Park. It’s home to only 5000 lucky residents, but it is a vacation destination for thousands. It’s a place that if you visit once you’ll want to come back again and again until eventually you can move there, which is how my wife and I ended up on the island. Once know for the white sand beaches, laid back attitude, and miles of green hills; St. John now is almost unrecognizable. Trees with no leaves, homes with no roofs, brown for miles with not a hint of green or blue; the island was decimated. It was physically decimated and economically too as our primary industry, tourism, will not recuperate for years making it hard for locals to get on their feet again.
Since Irma St. John has been without power, cell service, running water and peace of mind. Though relief has come to the island it is woefully inadequate because of the horrifically fertile hurricane season this year. Within two weeks three major storm systems had moved
Thank you,
Josh Bourassa

[@brandondunn4562]

Me and my family just visited St. John from Pennsylvania in 2023 six years after the hurricanes there. I could imagine it had to be one of the most terrifying experiences you all went through with Irma and Maria two weeks apart in 2017.

[@audreyrossi1778]

Wow. Sad, but great video that truly shows the strength, impact and residual devastation of Hurricane Irma. St. John is our magic place and we are there once or twice and year and will be back, hopefully in Spring. God bless you.

[@marymcwright8980]

That is something to see. Unusually strange. Yet fascinating. Great footage. Thank you.

[@Supernova-lc2yf]

2:15 Watching blow in was cool af and also jeez those winds!! 3:30 Irma was a historic beast we wont see for atleast another 2 decades

[@GoshindoTanaka]

dude that was insane

[@SPEC1ALSAUC3]

Wow I’m staying in sea grape and was curious how the storm looked on the island

[@hughgreentree]

We were 18 miles west of you that day. It was no fun at all.

[@matthewregan5435]

Hey Josh, who's singing in the intro?

[@mattalley5064]

St John is too strong to be killed by a couple of hurricanes. It will recover. I cant wait to return and WILL do so, hopefully soon

[@richarderrington9478]

Are they hurricane impact windows, laminated glass?

[@kaamkic]

I know this video is old as hell but is it typical that people in USVI stay home during a huge hurricane like this?

[@benjaminbarlas7068]

Yes where else are we supposed to go?

[@benjaminbarlas7068]

And hurricanes like Irma aren’t typical to say the least

[@tvold9204]

irma never got that strong but ok

[@JoshsDesk]

Really were u in the Virgin Islands when it happened,!? Cause i was!! 255 mph gusts most Def happened. love to know where YOU were....

[@tvold9204]

​@@JoshsDesk I was east of Naples FL for the storm... We didn't get hit as hard as yall but we were one of the worse hit areas. But, this is an easily googleable fact that you can just look up. Pulling numbers out of your ass makes you look dumb. The highest intensity irma reached was 180 (which is still absolutely mind-boggling to think about). I think you don't understand the correlation between mph and wind strength. 225 MPH winds would have ripped your home apart and killed you just from the force of the winds. Wind that strong have never occurred in any tropical cyclone (outside of gusts). The only landfalling tropical cyclones in the Atlantic to actually have those kinds of gusts at landfall were Dorian in 2019, and the 1935 labor day hurricane in Florida. And nothing has ever caused a 253 MPH Just do some research. I'm not downplaying your situation, I'm just saying your title is wrong.

[@jtidema]

@@JoshsDesk When people measure hurricane force, they usually use the 'sustained' winds. That may be why people get confused. A gust of 225 is insane and nothing to take lightly. But it is different than the sustained winds people can look up on record.

[@logansuch7601]

Donate for you to live your dream. Nope

[@JoshsDesk]

I took all the money I collected and donated it. Just because that's something you might do, dosnt mean I would. Pls don't project sir.