The Trump administration has declared that its relief efforts in Puerto Rico are succeeding, but people on the island said help was scarce eight days after Hurricane Maria devastated the US territory.

Heavy rain and 185 mph winds lashed the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico's north-east coast on Wednesday as Hurricane Irma roared through Caribbean islands on its way to a possible hit on South Florida.

A tropical storm threatening to grow into a hurricane is heading towards America’s Gulf Coast.

Tourists fleeing Hurricane Rina crowded Cancun’s airport even as the cyclone lost some of its punch on a course for Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coast.

THE new acting director of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) yesterday pledged to intensify efforts to find more permanent housing for the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors in shelters.

The new acting director of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency today pledged to intensify efforts to find more permanent housing for the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors now in shelters.

US President George Bush, facing blistering criticism for his administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, said today “the results are not acceptable” and pledged to bolster relief efforts with a personal trip to the Gulf Coast.

US President George Bush hopes his tour of Gulf Coast communities battered by Hurricane Katrina will boost the spirits of increasingly desperate storm victims and their tired rescuers.

THE United States began to come to terms with the true extent of the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina yesterday.

As dawn broke over the ravaged Gulf of Mexico coastline today, rescuers in boats and helicopters furiously searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina, with fears the death toll could reach 80.

The US property and casualty insurance industry, hit hard last year when four separate hurricanes slammed into Florida, now faces as much as €26bn in claims from Hurricane Katrina’s foray into Louisiana and neighbouring Gulf Coast states, according to preliminary risk assessments.

Hurricane Frances ripped apart roofs, shattered windows and toppled trees as it raged through the Bahamas yesterday with violent winds that sparked panic and drove thousands to flee. At least one man was electrocuted in the storm.

NEARLY 1.2 million Floridians were urged to leave their homes yesterday as massive and powerful Hurricane Frances roared toward the crowded south-east US coast.

Residents left homeless by Hurricane Charley’s 145 mph winds dug through their ravaged homes, sweeping up shattered glass and rescuing what they could as US President George Bush promised rapid delivery of disaster aid.

AS the remnants of Hurricane Charley disintegrated off the New England coast yesterday, Florida residents began the massive task of cleaning up.

Hurricane Charley left a trail of destruction in Florida, where officials today reported a “significant loss of life”, as the slightly weakened storm barrelled on toward the South Carolina coast.

Major natural and man-made catastrophes have cost the globe more than £80bn so far this year, largely because of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, a major insurer said Thursday.

Lloyd's of London says the US terror attacks have cost its business £1.3bn.

Standard & Poor says the insurance system will be able to absorb up to £35bn in losses from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Only one of the twin World Trade Centre towers was insured because experts believed the chances of both collapsing simultaneously was too far-fetched, it emerged today.