There are two ways to understand the impact of Hurricane Irma on the British Virgin Islands. One is analytical: The category 5 storm was so violent it triggered seismometers calibrated for earthquakes.
The other is this: "It was like there were demons out in that storm," says Clayvorne Pope while manning the desk at Dive BVI on Scrub Island. She stills her otherwise beaming countenance as she recalls the terror. "If that hurricane had stayed a half hour more, we would not be here," she says. "And it felt like a nightmare afterward, for eight weeks straight."