Saturday, August 18, 2007

Hurricane Dean

Soon to be a category 5 hurricane, Dean passed by us on Thursday night and was still dumping rain and wind on us well into Friday night. And that was only his tail. We here in Barbados have been very fortunate... maybe it's our position off the island chain, or (and I'm leaning towards this explanation) the mercy of God that our little 166 sq mile island (yes, we're smaller than some ranches in Texas) hasn't been blown away in recent times. Not that I'm calling it on us... but all I'm saying is that we've been very fortunate. To the point of complacency even. The last time we were severely hit was by Hurricane Janet back in 1955.

Actually, I have a story about that. Yesterday, my father-in-law told me a story I've never heard before. He told me that when he was a yound lad, he used to spend lots of time with the fisherfolk and was offered the chance to be a helper on the ship for a trip down to Trinidad. He agreed, gathered his few items of clothing in a sack and headed onto the ship. They went through all the procedures of checking crew and ship and soon they were ready to go. Then, suddenly, FIL gathered his belongings and got off the ship. The captain asked "You're not bothering with the trip?" to which my FIl said, "Next time". That was the day hurricane Janet struck. Those men on that ship were never heard from again.

I get goosebumps when I think about it!

We've come a long way where it comes to being able to warn people about an impending storm/ hurricane. Apparently, no one knew Janet was coming and was going about their day as normal. It was only around 2 p.m. (or so I'm told) that people knew a storm was coming. There weren't many phones so people couldn't be alerted that way.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those in the path of this monster.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm glad to hear you're safe and sound. Thanks for your compliment on the jacket :)