Dominica-based Guyanese relives horror of ‘demon’ Hurricane Maria

Sep 25, 2017 News

– appeals to Govt. to send troops, food supplies, as living conditions deteriorate

“When I first heard the wind, I had no idea that the storm had not even hit as yet. Then I heard the guy on the radio say that the storm had not made landfall. My heart fell; so if this was not the storm as yet, what the hell was coming to get us?”

“I could not believe how the landscape had changed; like something huge had plucked all the trees and grass from the mountains. My son saw a decomposing body being carried, and there are reports of unburied bodies…”

“There is widespread looting. Many of the supermarkets have been looted. There have been a few break-ins into people’s homes. I believe that the situation can deteriorate when food runs out…”

A Guyanese woman, who with her husband and son, survived the horror of Hurricane Maria, recounted crouching in her living room, as winds that howled “like an angry demon,” blew off her front door and windows, and sucked her belongings out of her Bath Estate, Dominica home.
Making her first contact with loved ones in Guyana, since the category five, hurricane devastated her home five days ago, the Guyanese spoke on Saturday about losing “everything” she had acquired during her approximately ten years on the island.
She also spoke of scenes, reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic movie: trees uprooted from nearby mountains, her son seeing a decomposed body being carried away, another corpse in a ravine near the country’s drinking supply, looted stores, and of her husband having to trek for hours to find food for the family.
Yesterday, she sent out an appeal, via Kaieteur News, for urgent help from the Government of Guyana for assistance to its citizens and others on the stricken island, where she fears law and order may soon break down entirely.
“They (Government ) can find out if people need to be evacuated, and also send military personnel to maintain law and order.
“There is widespread looting. Many of the supermarkets have been looted. There have been a few break-ins into people’s homes.
“It’s a good thing that the people here are not violent, but I believe that the situation can deteriorate when food runs out.”
“Government can also assist with rice, toiletries, and other kinds of provisions.
Drinking water is also very scarce.”
The last word that she had sent out to loved ones in Guyana was at around noon on Monday, September 18, as the island braced for a ‘category three, possible category four’ hurricane that was to hit that night.
She then waited at her Bath Estate residence. Having lived most of her life in a country that had never experienced a natural catastrophe, the family was ill-prepared for what came.
“We started out hearing that it was a category one storm, but by night it had increased to a category five. When I first heard the wind, I had no idea that the storm had not even hit as yet. Then I heard the guy on the radio say that the storm had not made landfall. My heart fell; (I thought) ‘so, if this was not the storm as yet, what the hell was coming to get us?’”
Then it came.
“The wind sounded like an angry demon. We shifted hiding place as the door blew open. The storm windows were no match, either. The storm sucked a lot of (our) stuff outside. If we had remained in our original hiding place, we would have been blown away. We were okay in the living room between the mattresses.”
She estimated that the hurricane battered their home for about three hours.
“The next day, I could not believe how the landscape had changed; (it was) like something huge had plucked all the trees and grass from the mountains. The mountains were littered with zinc sheets, galvanized, etc. The unassuming river (some 50 feet from our home) was now a raging monster.
“Our apartment was flooded and it seemed as if the river was beginning to seep inside, because there was so much mud in the house.
“My son saw a decomposing body being carried, and there are reports of unburied bodies. One was lying in a ravine near the ‘Gutter Village’s’ water supply.
Right now, the government is trying to get assistance. They are trying to clear some of the roads. Water and electricity are out; lots of transformers are destroyed and the main drug store is closed.
“It is (like) a recurring nightmare, and I keep thinking that I will wake up, except that I am awake. I have lost everything; I have to start over. In one night, my entire life has changed.
“The challenge now is (getting) food and water. My husband had to walk for eight hours to get food for us.
“Right now, people are trying to clean up their homes. The roofs of many houses are gone.
I have been here ten years, and I am thinking of returning to Guyana; my son is definitely in evacuation mode.”
While she did not indicate that there were any incidents of violence, she is concerned that this may quickly change if food and water run out on the island.
And with looting and some burglaries, the family has resorted to sleeping with sharpened machete and other implements nearby.
Despite her dire situation, the Guyanese still managed to show some sense of humor and ingenuity, revealing that, despite having no electricity, she managed to preserve her meat by making pepperpot, “eaten with rice and sada roti.”
“We are alive, it is a terrible challenge, but I am hanging in there.”
Hurricane Maria, the second major storm to hit the Caribbean this month, left at least 15 people dead and 20 more missing in Dominica, the small island, according to Roosevelt Skerrit, the nation’s Prime Minister. This puts the death toll to at least 25 across the Caribbean.
The category five storm, destroyed some 95 percent of structures, cut off the mountainous island’s communication systems and shut its two airports.
A statement from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that its record-topping winds reached 160 miles per hour when it hit the island nation.
We cry but do not despair,” PM Skerrit said as he addressed the 72nd Session of the U.N. General Assembly.
Guyana has pledged support to the CARICOM member state. Attempts are being made to ship relief supplies for hurricane-hit Caribbean islands.
And Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, recently revealed that Guyanese nationals expressed a preference to remain and rebuild, but want their children evacuated.
The hurricane-hit island of Dominica is to receive £5M in UK aid to help the recovery effort, it has been announced. The move brings the UK Government’s financial support for the Caribbean region ravaged by two tropical storms to £62M.