That Crazy Bitch Sandy (The Hurricane) Pt:1

Hiya Peeps,

I decided to spend a little longer than a holiday in Jamaica during the storm season, so tell me why I was shocked when hurricane Sandy came along and wreaked havoc in my new community. Personally when I heard about the impending storm I was not overly concerned as I had not experienced a tropical storm I really had no idea of what to expect.  I chillaxed with family while we discussed the possibility of the storm and what that could mean.

At around 4:00pm the electricity went out.  Despite the fact that the skies were dark and it had been raining heavily for two days with extreme winds; for me storm watch didn’t begin until the power cut out.  As the evening progressed so did the storm y conditions and we retreated from the veranda where we had been watching. It felt cinematic and slightly unreal but the fact that it was too dangerous to be outside made the experience very real.

 As the night went on and the storm worsened I felt less secure in our house. As we huddled around the battery operated radio and candle light while listening to the news of Bog Walk, St Catherine and Portland were experiencing extreme flooding. Fisherman and folk residing in costal regions were being warned by the government to take precautionary measures and leave there vessels, equipment and personal effects as secure as possible and retreat to safer locations. This created a big furore as people were afraid that their absence would encourage thieves. People who lived in properties that were unlikely to endure Sandy were advised to head to shelters. Many had no choice but to do so.

I was woken up by the sounds of Sandy around 11 pm.  I had been sleeping for some time since the lights had been out since around 4:00pm and both the land line and Digicel networks had failed let’s face it there wasn’t any-thing else to do.  As I could hear the zinc on the roof on the extension of my family home start to sway and the mango tree limb was lashing against the property I started to feel increased anxiety about my safety as the weather persons who had become our only source of information and comfort  told us that this level one hurricane would have left the island by now. My unease was compounded by the darkness of not only my house but all the neighbouring properties and the street. The following morning after a night of crashes, bangs and other sounds that I could not identify the morning revealed the devastation that had been left behind. Trees were uprooted the electricity lines were left exposed and tangled on the ground.

Many shop owners were left devastated by flooding. Peoples home were ravaged and left without roofs flooded or both.  We were lucky as most people in our community only lost food trees, and experienced some minor flood damage. Still the community started to move toward a clean-up effort almost immediately and we did the same. The thing that struck me was the independence of the little community I was staying in.  Had I been in London I would have expected to see the increased presence of the emergency services and government employees visibly moving around and I did see these individuals maybe a week after the initial events but in the days immediately after the storm it was individuals that were chopping up tress that had become an obstruction in the roads and making the way clear for cars.