Hurricane Paloma – 8 Nov 2008
The wind howled outside the door pressing in. Under presser the door flew open and the men rushed to hold it close. After many attempts to hold it close they reached for the hammer and nails to hammer it shut. The wind screamed as if annoyed that they had managed to shut it out. Then there came a hard pounding on the roof top to the east, the men started talking about what it could be, they surmised it was a fruit tree branch that the wind was playing with. The men put up a good front not to alarm the women but inside they admitted later they were getting worried as the branch continued to beat upon the roof almost it same in an attempt to break in from above. It took some hours but it finally subsided and a few hours later we were all able to go outside. Having now seen all the destruction I can say that this is the worst hurricane I have ever been in and my father who is over 70 says the same for him.
My mother and father walked about a mile then cut through some people’s yards to get pass the river of water that had settled on the road and then got a ride down to her Uncle Kie’s home. They found him in the only safe place that was left of his house which was the bathroom, The roof had blown completely off the west part of his home and some off the east. Uncle Kie had fallen down as a piece of ceiling hit him in his head but he managed to get to the bathroom and spent the remainder of the storm sitting on the toilet. He is a stubborn old man of 92 years and did not want to even leave his place when my parents finally got to him after the storm which was the reason he was still there during the storm due he would not leave to go to a shelter. At anyrate after he saw the extent of the damage he finally said he would go to a shelter for a few days but if they left him there any longer they could get his casket ready. After a few days he was carrying on so bad that someone recommended we take him out of there because he would not eat, nor take a bath. 
The gentleman that we had sheltered with during the storm said we could take Uncle Kie in with us until Sunday which was when we planned to move into an Aunts home which had escaped with only minor damage that was next to our homes which had major damage. Due our aunt is up in age as well and crippled with both her legs they had taken her to live with family in Grand Cayman and had given us permission to live in her home until such time as we could return to our homes. Looks like it will be a while before I return to my home as it was the least damaged of our two homes but once it’s fixed we plan to take in my GrandMother and her helper to live over there due her home is so destroyed. So now instead of living alone in my own space and Internet, I am sharing a home with my two parents, our uncle and have to travel to the middle of the island to receive internet service, not to mention living to the whims of a generator. As my boss rigthly said in times like this families tend to band closer together.
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- Published:
- November 28, 2008 / 7:29 pm
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- Culture
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