Depuis beryl qui nous a surpris…plus rien..! Et tant mieux 😅

Dans le dernier Caribbean Compass, le récit de ce qu'un vieux habitué de Carriacou a vécu dans sa petite maison à terre. Terrible, mais il est toujours vivant, réfugié dans la salle de bains, seule pièce intacte de sa maison !

Surviving Beryl on Carriacou

We received this second letter from Hutch after the hurricane hit Carriacou. Our hearts go out to this longtime contributor and valued friend of Compass in his time of loss.

July 7, 2024

"Dear Compass,

Here is a taste of the story, but only a small fraction.

Summary: Most of Carriacou was utterly destroyed, including my home.

My August 2024 story in Caribbean Compass, “Shelter from the Storm,” speaks of four storms that actually caught us, only one of which was hurricane force, 60 knots. Thus, the story says, I’m no expert … or maybe getting hit so seldom makes me an expert.

I watched Beryl come across the Atlantic, way early for a Cape Verde storm. Her computer graphics showed electric blues and greens swirling into bright yellows and reds surrounding her eye. She was beautiful. But she was tracking straight for the Grenadines — where I am.

I sold Ambia and moved ashore. Aboard Ambia I would have had all the work of setting up for a serious storm that I tell of in “Shelter.” Ashore, all I have to do is clear the veranda and close the shutters and louvers … well, and provision for a couple weeks or months to survive the aftermath. One should be ready to be self-sufficient for a while after a serious hit.

The forecast was ominous. She was at 110 knots, expected to strengthen to 125 as she crossed the islands. And it appeared it would be a direct hit.

Question: Should I weather the storm in my second-story apartment or move into the more substantial house atop which my apartment sits? In my home, the only serious shelter is in the bathroom, a small block room with a concrete roof — which I deemed sufficient should it get that bad.

The storm hit us during daylight on Monday, July 1, 2024, roughly twenty years after Ivan.

Ashore and in a house, I had less sense of the wind velocity and direction. The wind was strong and building, but I was still feeling comfortable. Then the roof exploded, in an instant. I knew I had seconds, grabbed the computer and got in the bathroom. I spent several hours standing in the deepest corner of the room with occasional glances out the door as Beryl raged stronger and stronger. The walls shook ever harder until they finally fell. The eye of the storm arrived and I stepped out to have a look. Then, as the trailing wall of the eye arrived, I ducked back into my shelter for the second half. The second half was more noisy and violent than the first half.

When it was over, my entire apartment had been brought down, everything except the bathroom and the kitchen counter. Most of the wreckage of the house lay in a pile on the flooded floor with all of my stuff buried under it.

Then the storm was over, now the work begins.

July 14, 2024

I should have sent this when I finished the above. I’d intended to finish and send the next day. Then complications started setting in, including the government offering free internet … which clogged the system. More to the point, however, is an insightful comment Nephew Zach made: “And for everyone who survived, the real work is probably just beginning. Find essential goods, recover infrastructures, begin a complex process of rebuilding ….”

I hired a helper, Edwin, a friend and good worker. He dismantled the fallen walls, saving the bolts and screws, and stacked them in a pile at the edge of what is now a large deck with the bathroom and kitchen counter still standing. Then a trapline tent was rigged and I moved back in the day before yesterday. I am now living a kind of camping lifestyle that has much of the simplicity of life aboard my little yacht. It is sufficient (and pleasant) in our normal weather. We’ll see how it stands up to our next weather threat.

I have it better than many or most of my fellow islanders. And I have had a lot of help from friends. I am going to rebuild with camping and the next tropical storm in mind.

One Love, Hutch"

Bonjour à toustes,Qui aurait des informations récentes sur l’aide et la reconstruction ?
Merci.

C'est vraiment une année "à la con". Et je pense que l'on est pas à l'abri d'une surprise en fin de saison.

Plus précisément, c'est actuellement une "simple" dépression, la 9e de la saison (= nine)

Mais il est prévu qu'elle se creuse et devienne un ouragan dès demain (probablement baptisé HELENE).

Oui l'énorme ouragan HELENE est en route rapide vers la côte ouest de la Floride... Il s'est vraiment creusé très vite !

Le spécialiste Jeff Masters :

Helene is expected to intensify into an unusually large major hurricane that will bring a historic storm surge to a large swath of Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday.