Offshore law firms with offices in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) were closed and still scrambling Monday to locate employees and lawyers in the wake of devastation left behind by Hurricane Irma.
Irma was a Category 5 storm when it made landfall late last week in the BVI, a key financial services hub and overseas territory of the U.K. Power is still out, cell phone service is limited and stories are emerging of a fraying social fabric, including looting. The fiancé of one partner at leading offshore firm Appleby, Andrew Jowett, who is stuck on the island of Tortola, told the BBC it is “like a warzone” on the island.
