There are few things which stir feelings of deep poetic justice than a billionaire forced to huddle in a basement to escape the vast, churning horror of an apocalyptic climate change enabled disaster. They make movies about that kinda shit, man.
Well, it’s a bit more than just a mental image – that’s exactly what Richard Branson is currently doing. Branson has refused to leave his private Necker Island, hunkering down in his expensive wine cellar and battling it out. Here he is, on Instagram, looking weirdly haggard.
What is he doing, exactly? He seems to have a great many dice, but no board games to speak of. Is he playing craps? Craps is honestly a terrible game to pass the time unless there’s money on the table, which there may very well be. Possibly more money than I have ever seen in my life.
“We are expecting to get the full force of the hurricane in around five hours’ time, when we will retreat to a concrete wine cellar under the Great House,” Branson wrote in his blog. “Knowing our wonderful team as I do, I suspect there will be little wine left in the cellar when we all emerge.”
“We have just experienced a night of howling wind and rain as Hurricane Irma edges ever closer towards us on Necker and the British Virgin Islands,” he said. “All of us slept together in two rooms. I haven’t had a sleepover quite like it since I was a kid.
The catastrophic Hurricane Irma is bearing across the Caribbean – and is heading right for Necker Island after hitting the islands of Barbuda, St Barthelemy and St Martin today.
Branson urged people in the path of the hurricane to seek respite from the storm, pointing that local churches and community centres have shelters that can be used.
