Devastated from a Distance

As we all know, two destructive hurricanes have devastated the Caribbean in a matter of two weeks. We all looked on and prepared for Hurricane Irma as we saw how she destroyed the Caribbean islands of Barbuda and St. Maarten. We watched and saw Irma as she got stronger and more destructive. She then set her sight on the US Virgin Islands. However, Irma was projected to only really affect two out of three of these islands... which she did. As a Virgin Islander, this made me very fearful.

Locals of these islands prepared as much as they could and waited for Irma to bring the fight to them. As she approached, she started off with some pretty strong winds, then came the rain. as Irma began to cover the islands of St. Thomas and St. John, she took all electricity and most cellular service with her. People lost contact with their loved ones. those who did have cellular service were constantly posting images of Irma's wrath on Facebook.

For the Caribbean people like myself who live on the mainland but still have their whole family living on these small islands, it was extremely hard to watch these videos as we saw strong winds rip people's homes apart. Imagine the fear that we felt when we noticed that we could not call or text our loved ones. We sat by and wondered if the same thing was happening to our family. There was literally no way to know. After Irma moved on she left 65 deaths behind her in the Caribbean.

As everyone attempted to recover and get their life back together, Hurricane Maria formed. Maria ironically attacked each of the islands that Irma missed. That included Dominica, St. Croix and Puerto Rico. Citizens and tourists who experienced Irma in St. Thomas and St. John, were allowed to evacuate to St. Croix. Oddly enough, Maria then headed straight to that very island. Once again, those of us residing in the mainland felt completely helpless to our loved ones. All we could have done was pray that lives would be speared.

As Maria got stronger, communication was lost. This time around, it seemed like a lot more people were posting on Facebook asking for people to come to their rescue because their roof flew off or their entire house was gone and their family was trapped in a closet. Just imagine witnessing such an outcry from people who's lives were in danger. All we could have done is repost their statuses and images in hopes that the right person would see and somehow be able to help them. But realistically we knew the chances of people putting their own lives in danger so save others.

The most difficult part was watching how slow Maria was moving. It seemed like she had settled on these Leeward Islands and had no intention of leaving.

15 people were already confirmed dead in Dominica and they are still counting. Though Maria really focused on St. Croix, USVI, she definitely brought a lot of rain to the remaining Virgin Islands. St. Thomas was way more flooded this time than it was when Irma struck.

As residents in Florida, we were also warned of Irma's arrival and were urged to evacuate. When I was finally able to hear from my mom, she told me that i would need to chew gum or put something in my ears because the winds were so strong her ears were popping. She then told me that wherever i decided to ride out the hurricane, make sure that I had some form of ID on me. I could only imagine how hard it was for a mother to tell that to her child knowing the possible outcomes. just a few days ago I was so concerned about her life, and now the tables had turned.

We can all agree that it was so hard to watch Irma and Maria destroy our paradise and take precious lives. I have heard so many people say that they had much rather experienced these hurricanes with their families, rather than sitting around feeling helpless and not knowing what is going on. The Caribbean community in the states really came together in these past few weeks. There has been a few relief efforts organized by Caribbean groups who are on the mainland as well. Fellow Virgin Islander Tim Duncan wasted no time to jump into action and raise money and awareness. He donated and also raised over 2 million dollars for relief efforts. We were not there to experience these disasters physically, but we were right there with our loved ones experiencing it emotionally and mentally. Our hearts were all broken. Our islands and families were devastated, and so were we.

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