And Still I Rise

Like a thief in the night Tomas made his appearance;catching most if not all of us unawares. On Friday afternoon We heard we were under a storm watch but early Saturday morning news broke that we were under threat from Hurricane Tomas. Still there were those skeptics who chose to ignore the warnings preferring to remain in Kingstown to continue their vending. I guess they believed we would once again be spared the brunt of a tropical storm/hurricane.

He huffed and he puffed but couldn't blow my house down or remove one sheet of galvanize. From the safety of my bedroom I watched as the great trees in the yard swayed and dipped to Tomas's Latin beats.I hoped that the trees would withstand his fury and they did. Some of my neighbours were not so lucky as a walk through the village revealed houses with partial roofs,uprooted trees lining walkways or resting on roofs.Breadfruit trees seemed particularly hard hit looking every bit as forlorn as discarded rag dolls.

Nation wide, stories of destruction continue to flood the airwaves.At one point they were reporting that 514 persons were in shelters with approximately 300 in Mustique. Twenty one shelters were active. Areas like Georgetown, have reported extensive damage to personal property as well as schools. Elsewhere, the damage seems just as grim with many reporting loss of property,landslides and road blocks caused by fallen trees. The utilities seem not to want to be around at the same time which I consider really bothersome.. Despite all this I enjoyed my first hurricane. It was simply awesome watching nature at work. I'd do it again but for the loss of my electricity and water-things I don't wish to live without for more than 2 hours.