IRMA - PART TWO

OUT OF THE EYE

Mrs.T's story continues.  Many of you were captivated by Part One of her encounter with Irma.  And although it has been over a week since she returned, the episode still holds a grip on her.   As the eye passed through there was more to come:

As the sky darkened, the noise of the wind increased to a small roar.  Wanda served everyone a glass of water.  The building would shake or tremble when debris or water crashed into it,  We had a small flashlight for comfort more than illumination.  The two guest ladies, Nickie (R was not sure what spelling you preferred.  - dt)  and the other one I didn't know, were talking to Wanda about mutual acquaintances.  The four guys and I said pretty much nothing.  I noticed that water had begun to seep under the doorway.  At first it was still a sheen, then an inch, then two.   The storm surge was rising.  I began to imagine the water rising over our heads and us floating out to sea.  BOOM, pause, BOOM, pause, BOOM, pause - the waves shook the building. I looked down and the water was rising over my ankles. Victor was sitting in the chair next to mine. I held out my hand to Victor,  "Do you want me to help you up, Princess?" he asked.   Victor always called me princess.  "I want you to hold my hand," I replied.  "I am a little nervous." "Of course," Victor answered.  I sat there holding Victor's big, strong, brown hand.  BOOM, pause, BOOM, pause, BOOM, pause.  The water continued to rise.  Eventually the sound of the waves quieted and the the water stopped rising.  I thanked Victor and he assured me I could hold his hand any time.  Slowly the water receded and the wind abated.

I don't remember lying down. But when I woke during the night, I was lying on one side of the bed with Ally beside me in her carrier then Wanda, and then James.  Ally gave a dissatisfied yowl.  "I know " I whispered comfortingly, "I know."  Everyone else was sprawled around the room with pillows and blankets on chairs and the floor. This was how it used to be when we visited aunts and uncles when I was a child.  It is going to be okay I thought as I drifted back to sleep.

When I awoke I heard Victor muttering something about 'looter' as he clanged about in the room next door.  I concluded that he was bringing his pots and pans, and stuff upstairs in an effort to save them.  I think it was James who said something about Rebecca.  And Wanda said, "I'll take care of her."  Would someone want to loot me I wondered.  Would they think I was a rich white person?  Silly looters.

Wanda brought in my breakfast.  It was ½ cup of oatmeal, three cookies, ¼ of an apple, and a cup of tea.  The oatmeal was made with cold water so it was kind of soggy and chewy.  The tea was hot they must have had a battery operated coffeemaker. (Probably a small propane heater  -dt)  Under the  circumstances it was better than I would have expected.  I thanked Wanda sincerely.  I think maybe she was pleasantly surprised, having expected complaints.  I figured Wanda was feeding the four of us so we each got ¼ of an apple.  She was an excellent quartermaster for our meager rations which had been pooled among us.

"Rebecca," Wanda explained " a lot of the hotel has been blown down and torn up.  So James and Victor and I will be very busy trying to clean it up and save what we can."  "I want to help," was my immediate response.  I'm afraid there is lots of broken glass, and nails and things and if you got hurt we could not get you to the doctor because the roads are blocked.  I want you to stay in your room today and lock the door.  Don't let anyone in but James or Victor or me.  "May I have the radio to listen to?" I asked.  "Of course, Wanda replied..  It worked on batteries and had only one station.  When I got tired of it would I turn it off to save the batteries.  Did I need anything?  Wanda left me two bottles, one of Coke and one of water,  If I got hurt or anything I should stick my head out the window and yell real loud.   Nobody was fooling me.  You don't need to lock the door to keep[ out broken glass.  It was those looters.

I looked out the back window and saw a lot of young men wandering around.  Several of them had bags or backpacks.  Victor was arguing with one who slunk away.  Three or four got together and started rooting through the debris where the restaurant had been. (Part of Sebastian's  -dt) Every so often one would stop and put something in his bag.

I turned on the radio.  The news was first.  There was no electricity on the island.   It had all been intentionally turned off before the storm hit.  This would prevent accidents and make it easier to turn power back on.  Second there was no water.  People should use seawater to flush toilets and bottled water to drink.  It was against emergency law to sell food, water, or building materials at inflated prices.  There was a $200 fine for each offence. (BVI uses US dollars -dt)  Third, there should be no looting.  The police had emergency powers.  There was a strict curfew from 6pm to noon.  All schools were closed.  All commercial establishments should observe the curfew.  The airport was closed.  All three harbors were closed.  The hospital was open.  More news in twenty minutes.  Then there was light island music for a while.  When  you got sick of that there was gospel music for a while.  Then there was light classical music.  After that there was a repeat of news.  It was the same except it listed two roads that were now open.  Do not go to the hospital unless you are sick or hurt the radio commanded.  Also the Queen is thinking of you and is sending help.  The Queen is sending Royal Marines and Engineers and supplies.

It was nice the Queen was thinking of us I suppose.  After all old ladies have to think of something.  I thought they really meant the government of the UK.  But I could be wrong; I have read about all these Royal charities. Maybe some of that was really coming our way.  I was tired of  the radio.  I took out  my little sudoku book and did a few puzzles.  And fell asleep.

Lunch was six cookies, a handful of walnuts, and half of an orange.  We got a small glass of orange carrot juice to drink.  It was enough.  I asked how it was going.  James reported they had two rooms cleaned and boarded up.  Victor mumbled something about looters.  Could I help?  No not today.  Victor remarked that it would be better when the Marines got here.  Those looters were afraid of them.  The Marines had big guns.  No one was afraid of the police.  Was there anything I wanted?  I asked for books.  After lunch I went to sleep.

When I woke up I thought about looters.  After every emergency there seems to be lawlessness.  If your house is blown away and when you go to the store they charge you $6 for a gallon of water,  there seems to be a certain Jean Valjean justification for looting.  (Of course things are always more expensive on an island even in good times  -dt)  But last week in the BVI there was a makeup store called Glam that was emptied from floor to ceiling.  Explain that.  At Sebastians looters took TVs from some of the rooms even  though there was no electricity and would not be for months.

James and Wanda and Victor were afraid of the looters.  Fourteen people had moved into one of the downstairs rooms and declared it theirs.  A bunch of young men came and went at will in another room.  White people in general were a target; white people who had lived there for while, like James, seemed to be exempt to me.  In Jost Van Dyke, a smaller island in BVI,  there reportedly were armed gangs of young men who were going into homes and stores and taking what they wanted.  We all waited for the Royal Marines.  

Supper was six cookies, ¼ of an apple, and some walnuts.  We had grapefruit soda to drink.  One of my pills that I take for anxiety had gotten wet and crumbled to a powder.  I was distraught.  Wanda scraped out a little bit of the powder into my hand and told me to eat that.  I felt much better.  Wanda could handle anything.  I had my own room to sleep in.  James and Wanda were next door and Victor on the other side.  I slept restlessly.  I woke  in the night and heard men's voices singing.  It turned out that some of the looters had found liquor from the bar and were having a party.

The next day a big yellow shovel came and spent time pushing all the trees and broken buildings and trash off the road.  The shovel belonged to the brother of a lady who lived down  the troad.  We were no longer trapped.  I saw one of our neighbors getting a delivery.  A boat came in fairly close to shore.  A paddleboard was put down beside it.  A bunch of boxes were loaded on the paddleboard.  A guy from the boat swam to shore pushing the board where someone was waiting to get the delivery.  Now the road was open Victor and James went to town to see if they could get anything.  It took them hours of waiting to get water and gasoline and an odd combination of groceries.  They found three pounds of spaghetti and two jars of pasta sauce.  Also two cans of tuna fish, a jar of beets, and a box of kitty litter.  Wanda was very good at making a little go a long way.  We decided to have a pasta party.  James was going to invite some of the looters in an effort to make friends with them.  We were all excited about having pasta.  Our chef Victor found some herbs to add to the sauce.  James reported it was pretty calm downtown and Wanda could go shopping next time, but not me.  Sigh.

As you have read above, after Irma's passing began the new phase of the aftermath.  Rebecca still had a few more days on Tortola.  She had to deal with some other challenges there including getting back to the mainland.  She will finish that in Part Three.  Writing this should have a cathartic effect.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Mrs.T Mexico had an 8.1 quake offshore of Oaxaca and Chiapas and was felt all the way to Mexico City.  Our friends L&J visiting the capital at the time were literally shook up by it but thankfully unharmed.  And since then there was the 7.1 temblor right in the capital which left hundreds dead.  Our hearts go out to all that suffered.  Bucerias has not been impacted.

As we have witnessed, shortly thereafter Maria devastated Puerto Rico.  Rebecca says Tortola looked even worse after Irma.  Although not directly hit, Tortola was also traversed by Maria - a cruel one-two punch.  Much smaller Tortola has many fewer resources than Puerto Rico.  We await an update on their situation.

And we do not want to forget our friends in Houston impacted by Harvey.  It seems a distant zephyr now.  But we know they are at the beginning of a longer recovery.  Fortunately access is much easier on the continent.

We need to respect Mother Nature.  Could there be more hurricanes or quakes in the offing?

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

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Irma - Part One

BAD TIMING

Many if not most of you think of Mrs. T as a 'woman of adventure'.  And she does have a streak of doing things a bit out of the norm.  But much of this stems from her lack of sitzfleich - she just cannot sit still sometimes.  And she is working her 'bucket list' - my bucket has a hole in it.  There is also her need to get away from the mundane, i.e., the editor.  So occasionally she goes on a solo vacation or maybe with a small group of women friends.  Sometimes she has a great time and sometimes things end up with a bit of tragedy.  Remember the broken leg at the end of the whale shark adventure?  Well, she felt the urge recently and she erred.  Here is the first part of a long essay about her recent trip.

Well I had been under a lot of stress. (Probably caused by the editor  -dt) One of my friends suggested a vacation.  I talked to Dan about it.  He was not going to take a - rude word - vacation. ('Darn' is a rude word for R.  -dt)  So I decided to go by myself.  One of my favorite things is SCUBA diving. (The real reason I did not go  -dt)  I looked on the internet the best places for diving in the Caribbean were Saba, the British Virgin Islands and some others.  The safest  (Low crime  -dt) places to visit included the British Virgin Islands (BVI)  whose language was English and money was the US dollar.  Well I signed up for a week for a nice little hotel on the beach. (Her travel agent made the arrangements.  -dt) There was a little storm developing out by Africa but it would probably not go near the BVI.

The next week as he drove me to the airport Dan remarked, "I'm not sure you should go the way that storm is growing."  "Oh I'll be fine I replied ," confidently.  If you ever want me to do something tell me I shouldn't.  (Amen to that -dt) Besides I was still a little grumpy that he wouldn't go.  By the time I landed the storm had a name, Irma, and was headed towards the BVI.

Several hours later when I arrived at Sebastian's on the Beach  preparations were under way.  The owners suggested I have a good meal before the hurricane came.  Although I wasn't very hungry I had a burger and fries.  Victor the chef, a huge soft-spoken bronze man, was busy packing his pans and utensils.  The meal he made for me was simple and delicious.  In fact it was very life sustaining although I did not know it at the time.  All the people at Sebastian's said I was a very brave lady.  In fact  you might substitute the word silly for brave; oh well.  Everyone else except two tall Americans had cancelled their bookings.

The things is, to get to BVI I had to take 3 different airplanes with waiting in between as the prognosis of the storm got worse for BVI and I was unaware.  When I arrived Irma was already rated as a number 4 and the revised storm path had the eye coming right over Tortola where I was staying.  OOPS!!  As far as my plans for SCUBA diving, I could forget about that because all the dive boats filled up some extra cans of gas and motored away as far and as fast as possible.  Boats that didn't leave mostly ended up in the middle of the island upside down.  There was one place that was called hurricane bay where it was supposed to be safe to anchor to ride out a storm.  Alas not so.  Several boats that tested this theory  disappeared completely and have not been seen since.

After my supper Wanda and James,the proprietors of Sebastian's, told me they had moved me from a first floor room to a second floor room.  My new room had a concrete roof so it should not fly off.  Well that was good.  They failed to explain that the second floor room was good because the storm surge, the wave of high water, was expected to be over 20 feet.  In this case a second floor room was a very good idea.  Also the room had stormproof windows.  I was all set.  As I started unpacking I decided not to put anything in the bottom drawers of the dresser just in case.  

When I unpacked I found a necklace that Dan had slipped into my bag.  This day was my 67th birthday.  I called to thank him and to report that I had arrived safely.  I wandered downstairs and a lady asked me if I wanted to buy any hurricane supplies from their little store. I thought about it.  After Irma arrived there might be no electricity.  And no water!!!

I bought a lot of packets of crackers and cookies, called biscuits for some reason (It is the British Virgin Islands  -dt), maybe 8 packets each holding 8 to 10 biskies.  I bought a jar of peanut butter.  I bought a large plastic jar, about a quart, of tiny ginger snaps. I bought three candy bars.  And to drink I bought a large size bottle of water - two liter;  it was the last water they had except 20 liter bottles.  I bought 4 cans of PEPSI and two plastic 1-liter plastic bottles of COKE.  I bought 4 glass bottles of a grapefruit drink.  I had no can opener for these.  I bought four 12 oz bottles of juice drink - two of carrot orange, one of carrot mango, one of pear Hawaiian punch.  I was pretty sure I would not like these - I would be wrong.  I figured I was prepared for a couple of days - how long could it be - wrong again.    These supplies cost over $40.   

I was settling in when Victor and some other guy came up with two 5-gallon buckets of seawater for flushing.  They also brought up 3 plastic gallons of drinking water.  I think this is when the birthday flowers from Dan arrived.  It was a large bowl of yellow roses and some tropical pink flowers.  Everyone was impressed.  I put them on my dresser.  I felt loved.  I knew I would be okay now.  I arranged my small bag with my passport, my money, my credit cards, and my medicine around my neck.  I got my two books to read.  Wanda came up to give me my instructions and my key.

First of all I was perfectly safe.  The roofs never came off when they were made of concrete.  This turned out to be untrue but my roof stayed on.  Irma had been upgraded to a level 5, the highest intensity hurricane.  It had 190 mph winds.  The eye was supposed to come right over where we were.  When it did it would seem like the hurricane was over but it was not.  I was not to come out until  Wanda or James or Victor came for me.  I would be all right.  Wanda gave me the key and told me to lock the door when she left and not to let in anyone but her or James or Victor.

No one told me why this was but I knew.  After the hurricane came LOOTING.  I moved the food close to the bed opened a can of PEPSI and a candy bar.  I peered out the window, which was clearly labeled storm proof.  The wind had picked up but there was not much rain.  I kept my shoes on as I lay down and tried to read.  I could not pay attention to the book and I kept getting up to peer out the window.  I decided this hurricane was not going to amount to much.  I hoped it at least had an eye; I was wrong again.  I decided to use the potty while it was still flushable.  I peeked out the tiny bathroom window and saw there was no surge under us yet.  This was good.

I tried to read but that proved difficult as the wind noise kept getting louder.  Suddenly there was a huge crash and I saw a large tree fly by.  A couple seconds later a big flat blue thing that I thought was a roof sailed by. "We are not in Kansas anymore," I thought.  The rain suddenly fell in sheets which the wind swirled in patterns like curtains blowing.  CRACK!!  CRASH!!  BANG!!! The two large stormproof windows, broke out shattered and were gone.  A sheet of rain washed over me.  The wind blew my breath away.  "Oh SH_T!" I thought.  I frantically grabbed all my crackers and  drinks and retreated to the bathroom.  I yanked shut the door which was resisting until the latch caught.  I peered cautiously out the small window which was intact.  The water was rising rapidly. Every few seconds there was a clear view and each time this happened there were fewer houses and trees in sight. What had been a beautiful tropical neighborhood with flowers and trees and gayly colored houses was turning into a rocky moonscape littered with broken houses and trees.  The Sebastian trembled as each wave crashed against the lower floor.  Thank goodness I was on the second floor.  Then slowly the winds quieted and the rain stopped.  The water drained away.  We were in the eye.  I noticed that I was breathing fast as if I had been running.  So much for being a brave lady I thought as I tried to concentrate on breathing slowly.  I probably should do something but I couldn't think what.  Don't go out I remembered.

"Rebecca are you OK?" Wanda called."Yes," I replied.  "We are going to move you to the room next door.  Its windows did not break," Wanda explained. I emerged from the bathroom.  The mattress was torn from the bed and lay twisted on the floor waterlogged and covered with shattered glass.  The bedspread was stretched across one side of the room.  My flower arrangement was still beautiful and intact.  My phone was damp and did not work.  The book I had been reading was in soaked clumps of pages.  As I poured water and glass from my duffle bag I noticed that there was an inch or two of water on the floor.  It came in the windows I thought.  The waves did not get that high.  Wanda and I stuffed all my undamaged stuff in the duffle.  We brought in my dive equipment and my flowers too.  Victor arranged all my food and drink with a large pile already on the desk in one corner.  Victor's window had broken too.  The roof had blown off Wanda and James's place so the four of us were holed up in the one undamaged room.  Also there was Ally who was Wanda's cat.  James was carting up buckets of flushing water.  Victor was bringing food and water.  Wanda was bringing dry pillows and blankets  I sat on the bed trying to breathe slowly.  Ally, every few minutes would let loose one very grumpy meow.  She did not like this hurricane one bit and she expected us to make it stop.  It was beginning to get darker and the wind was picking up when a lady whose house had blown completely away showed up asking for shelter.  In the next few minutes three more refugees appeared.  The eye had passed and the second half of Irma was upon us.

Thus ends the first part of Mrs.T's essay on the Irma adventure.  Still more harrowing things to come.  And I was concerned that Irma was headed towards Rachel's in north-central Florida.  Plus Harvey had recently paid a visit to our friend JT land her family just west of Houston; she seems to have gotten through that relatively unscathed thankfully.  And Mexico had deadly earthquakes; nothing untoward in Bucerias.

To see pictures and other stories of Irma in Tortola check out the BBC, The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/17/tortola-hurricane-irma-british-virgin-islands  , or other British news services.

As you can guess Rebecca eventually made it back to Philo.  But that is for the next parts of the story.; I will be encouraging her to write more while things are still fresh in her memory.  Stay tuned and feel free to share.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

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