Hurricane Irma slammed into St. John on September 6, 2017. It would be the most devastating hurricane to ever hit the small island. This is the continuing story told to me by my daughters, Michelle and Cortney, who were living on island at the time of this gigantic storm.
When Irma had finally subsided, the tired group (Michelle, Cortney, Robbie, Colby, John, Susan and Al) opened the door to the bathroom which they had eventually barricaded since the windows had not been boarded. They wanted to look out the windows to see if it was safe to go outside. This is what they saw:
The scene outside the window was not of lush green tropical plants and trees but of trees broken and stripped bare , debris everywhere. Horrified, they frantically started pulling the bookcase wood they had used to secure the front door. The scene was like it was from an apocalyptic movie set.
A small rental house that was on the same property as Dave’s home had been completely lifted off of its foundation and thrown on top of Dave’s house and partially blocking the doorway to the apartment where they were holed up.
There was just enough space to get by to get outside and assess the situation. Most were in shock, crying or both at what they saw.
Another view of the dismantled house thrown against Dave’s home. And this picture shows the large deck from the upper level of Dave’s home torn from the house and flipped upside down onto the ground (you can see where a tree came through the deck). The hot tub, which had been on the deck, had been picked up by the tornado inside the storm and thrown up and over the the street and dropped on the neighbors property.
Fortunately, the stairs leading to the upstairs main level of Dave’s house was still intact so they were able to access and see what happened to his home and belongings.
All the glass was completely blown out of Dave’s house and you can see the front part of the other house that had slammed into them where Michelle is standing. I had asked Michelle and Cortney , “didn’t you hear a house hitting above you??” They said the noise of the hurricane was so loud and there was so much debris and glass and metal tearing they couldn’t distinguish what was happening😰
After seeing the damage of a place that was supposed to be “safe“, they were anxious to go look at their own apartments. Mixed with feelings of curiosity, anxiety and dread, they made their way down the road by foot because there were trees and downed telephone poles in the street.
Cortney’s small A-frame wood dwelling was completely lifted and thrown into the gut of the backland and sat in the running stream of rainwater. Fortunately, she had taken all of her possessions out of that apartment because she knew it was precarious there. But it was still so distressing to know that she was now homeless😢. Next, they ventured down the street to Michelle’s:
If you zoom in on this photo, you can see the blue flooring but roof and sides are completely gone!
That’s the flipped refrigerator at the bottom of this picture.
Ironically, most of the sandals that were soaked in rainwater are named “Storm”🙃🤕. ( In the following days, she dried them out in the sun and donated them to all the women on St. John!)
As upsetting as it was to see all of this destruction, they knew that others must have suffered the same loss and we’re anxious to find out if their friends were okay. Without cell service, they would need to walk a few miles into town to see if possibly there was service closer to the ferry dock.
Upon arriving to Cruz Bay, they ran into several people they knew and heard of cell service being only available at the Boulon Center which is three stories high (coincidently where St John Dental, where I work, was housed on the third floor)
Michelle and Cortney called us to let us know they were OK and they made it through the hurricane without injury.
Our family jumped for joy knowing they were free from danger and called the families of others we knew on island who had reported to be safe to Michelle and Cortney.
Now they started to look around at the devastation in Cruz Bay.
The town was littered with boats, trees and debris. People were walking around in a daze. It looked like an atomic bomb had gone off on their island. People went on house-to-house searches making sure no one was trapped in their home. Robbie, along with other boat owners, were itching to get to Hurricane Hole in Coral Bay to check whether their boats survived the hurricane but there was no way they could get past the downed telephone poles and trees. It would take a few days of people with chain saws and trucks to get the road in somewhat passable shape. Plus authorities had immediately issued a curfew because looting had already begun☹️. You would hope a small island of people would be too shell-shocked and concerned about their homes and families and friends to not have to worry about crime. But there is ALWAYS that element in every society who will take advantage of a disaster to line their pockets.
Yet, also on a small island, a greater majority of residents went out of their way to help others in any way they could. Whether it was clearing debris to make a home halfway livable, sharing provisions, loaning a cellphone when someone had a dead battery and even giving some a place to stay if that person’s place had been destroyed. The island’s people, St. Johnians, were not going to let this beat them! They were going to pool their resources until help was on its way.
***next weeks blog will be the continuing saga of hurricane Irma’s destruction on St. John and also St. Thomas
Traveling Rose in St. John 