Clearing up the British Virgin Islands post-Irma

Back row (L-R): PC Iwan Adams, PC Chris Fairclough, PC Marianne Greening, PC Sian Baumber, PC Simon Dover. Front row (L-R): PC Steve Lloys, Sgt Carl Blanks, PC Gareth McSherry

They may be more used to tackling crime in Newport and Pontypool, but eight officers from Gwent Police swapped Wales for the Caribbean for a month to help with the clear-up after Hurricane Irma.

The British Virgin Islands were devastated by the storm in early September, with winds of up to 200 mph battering the area.

Small tornadoes also formed near the eye of the storm, indiscriminately destroying houses as they passed through, reducing them to the concrete slabs they were built on.

In mid-October, the team of eight from different stations across the force volunteered to fly out to the British Virgin Islands to help the relief effort.

"I was a little bit apprehensive, a little bit concerned about going," said PC Marianne Greening.

"We'd seen the pictures, we'd seen the devastation on the news, the mosquito infestation, we knew it wasn't going to be great circumstances but I was willing to give it 100%."

"The devastation doesn't compare to what we'd seen on the news - there's no possible way you can compare it.

"There were people living on the streets, we were greeted with concrete bases where houses had been washed away. It was horrific, nothing but a disaster scene."

"There was a man called Smiley, who was known by everyone on the island, he was in his late 70s. He was living in a shack made of four pieces of wood with no kitchen or anything.

"He came over and shook our hands, thanked us for our hard work and his main words to me were 'I'm still alive'."

Smiley (centre) was living in a house made out of four planks of wood

PC Gareth McSherry said: "We saw planes on top of buildings, 50 tonne ferries tipped upside down in the sea.

"But the people were so upbeat and there was such a lot of support from the community.

"Even though they had lost everything they had a smile on their faces.

"We helped one elderly family clear their garden so the construction team could come in and they were so thrilled and thankful to have us there.

"One thing they did say was that they were surprised to see white people working very hard to help black people and get their houses back up and running."

The team's main role was to provide foot patrols, guard government buildings and places such as supermarkets and bars, which were heavily looted in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

The team found two dogs, named George and Stanley, who they arranged to be sent to America and adopted

But they were also given chainsaws to help clear fallen trees from buildings so reconstruction could begin. They set up an online fundraising page to help children get back into schools. They raised £450 which provided equipment for seven schools.

"We saw a massive improvement, it was all hands on deck," said PC McSherry.

"The emphasis at the beginning of our deployment was to get businesses, nurseries and schools open so people could get back to work and getting the hotels open so they could salvage some sort of tourist season."

But there were still several challenges to overcome.

"The main challenge was getting building materials, because everybody needed them but you couldn't get hold of them because they were in such high demand," said PC Greening.

"The rain was horrific, some things that had been repaired a day or two before were devastated again by the rain."

The team arrived back from their four week adventure on Friday and will now return to their day-to-day police work. But their work has had a huge impact on the other side of the ocean.