Hurricane Irma survivor on a Caribbean island: Everyone's turned 'feral'

Irma destruction in Road Town, Tortola, the British Virgin Islands. Photo / AP

A British expat whose partner is stranded on a hurricane-hit Caribbean island says he is carrying a knife for protection as "everyone's turned feral".

This combo of natural-colour images provided by Nasa Earth Observatory shows the US and British Virgin Islands islands in August, top, and after the hurricane. Photo / AP

Claudia Knight runs an arts school on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands but managed to return to the UK with her toddler daughter before Hurricane Irma unleashed devastation.

Her marine engineer partner Leo Whitting stayed behind - but after seeing images of the awesome power of the storm Knight said she thought he had died.

She said he has said the island has gone "feral".

"The military is everywhere with machine guns. Everyone's turned feral and no- one's going out without being armed.

"You can't drive your car without a weapon, it's turning really nasty. Leo carries a knife with him."

The prison was blown open by the storm meaning the inmates were free to roam, she added.

British soldiers and police officers have been sent to the British Virgin Islands to prevent lawlessness and looting and restore order.

She managed to speak with him thanks to "brief flickers of internet", adding "he phoned me shortly after and said I'm alive - Tortola isn't.

"He looked like he has been touching death's door, he's very pale and gaunt. My house and my business have been blown away and destroyed. Nothing is left standing on the island."

Knight said people were beginning to evacuate but you had to "pay through the nose" to be shuttled off, adding Whitting would hopefully manage to leave in the next few days.

- PA, AAP