“There was some looting in the first few days, but the Dutch marines and police are on the street to prevent it,” Paul De Windt, publisher of The Daily Herald, a newspaper on the Dutch side, said on Sunday. “Some people steal luxury things and booze, but a lot of people are stealing water and biscuits.”

More than 265 Dutch military personnel have been deployed to the island, and an additional 250 are expected to be sent to the region in the next few days to help maintain order and assist with relief efforts, the Dutch government said. In addition, 90 police officers have been flown in from Curaçao, another Dutch territory.

The storm delivered a direct hit on the region starting Wednesday, destroying airports and ports, knocking out power and potable water systems, and leaving many tens of thousands of residents and tourists isolated and increasingly desperate, unable to go anywhere.

The crisis worsened on Saturday as Hurricane Jose rumbled through the region. Though the islands hit by Irma avoided a direct blow from the second hurricane, its arrival forced the suspension of relief and rescue operations, prolonging the agony for many.

On Sunday, officials announced that two more bodies had been discovered on the Dutch side of St. Martin, increasing the death toll in the Caribbean attributable to Hurricane Irma to at least 27. So far, about a dozen deaths on both sides of the island have been attributed to the storm, according to The Associated Press. People here, however, insist that the death toll is much higher.

While there is no way to verify such claims, they illustrate the fear and the rumors swirling through an island as people are cut off from the rest of the world, with roads blocked and most areas without cellular service. News, for the most part, is being relayed by word of mouth, leading to outsize claims. One rumor making the rounds on Sunday was that hundreds of people had died, some at the hands of escapees from a local prison.