The power just went out. I am glad I got to finish my video. I am surprised it lasted this long. Encarna has been sleeping. I am glad. The wind outside sounds like a monster. This monster is hungry. It is chewing and thrashing everything in its path and its hunger grows stronger as does its rage.
I have no way of knowing how hard the wind is blowing other that to say it is at least twice as hard as when I went out at 10:00 pm. The blasts of water are flying past my door in a constant stream. It is hard to describe the intensity of this monster. The streams of water are being moped around on the asphalt like a huge broom is just sweeping it up. I can’t imagine it getting more intense than it is right now.
For now all our defenses are holding up. There is a little trickle of water coming in the back door but it is just the wind pushing it sideways against the door and drips find thier way under it. We have to go mop it up every hour or so. We have lit candles now which gives the room a soothing light. The wick is flickering around but from where the breeze comes I can’t figure. It can not be related to the blast that is happening outside. For now this little concrete bunker is keeping us safe and warm.
If this intensity does not increase we will be okay. Unfortunately I know that it will increase for at least 5 more hours. Which means the island is in grave danger. Not a big surprise but still sad.
I can’t sleep. I am anxious, excited and pensive. Now the hard part begins.
Since I can no longer post these notes I am just going to save them as a running stream. I hope I can send them out soon.
7:29 Saturday evening. The Bitch has moved on. (thank God!)
I have not been able to continue this journal as I had hoped. It seems that Wilma had other plans for me for the last 36 hours. I have been busy and running and going pretty crazy. First of note, the house we rent did very well. The whole time it never let us down. With all the wind and heavy rain we got a great deal of water coming in the windows and under the doors. This meant we were almost constantly moping, toweling and desperately trying to keep the house dry. Water was blowing in under the doors and 5 of our seven windows were leaking substantially the entire time. It got so bad at one point last night (about 1 am) that Encarna and I took turns working while the other got a nap.
At 3:30 on Friday afternoon we had a 30 min break in the action. The eye of the storm apparently came very close to us. We never saw and it never got clear but we did have a slow down in the wind and rain for about 30 min. It was just long enough to go outside and fix a few things that needed work and have a quick bite to eat. Then just as if it had never slowed, it went back into full force gale and rain again.
During the night the tin roof on the carport had seen enough and decided it was going to leave. The wind was at full tilt. I would say well above 100 mph. It was dark and these huge pieces of twisted metal had pulled free and were thinking about eating my truck and motorcycle below. This did not set well with me. I knew I would need that truck later. I had to do something. Encarna was not happy about it but we devised a plan. I would dawn my wetsuit, Keen sandals and full face motorcycle helmet to try to save my truck. Encarna was going to close the door behind me and then go to the bedroom window to watch me. I would move the truck and run back inside as soon as I could and return to the back door to safety. This seemed like a good idea at the time. When we opened the back door it pushed open hard. As I slid the latch on the screen door open it yanked out of my hand and flung against the house. I stepped out and tried to stay on my feet. Luckily there was a wall and house nearby which blocked most of the wind, so I could stay up but the wind was really making it hard to move. As I got to the truck I already had the key in my hand. For a brief second I thought "what if this thing won’t start"? As I opened the door something big and heavy hit the top of my helmet, “good call on the lid” I thought. I moved the car up 15 feet away from the swinging corrugated steel. The door was hard to open because of the wind but that made it really easy to close behind me. I got the truck started and moved it up out of the way of the swinging metal. Then I looked back at my motorcycle and decided I was not going under the swinging metal again. The little Suzuki would have to fend for itself. So I ran back the back door and banged on it for Encarna to open.
That was our plan. Seemed simple at the time. But it did not open. When it did not open I banged again but still no opening occurred. This was a little dis concerning to me. I was starting to get worried because the palm leaved from the house next door were waking the hell out of me as I stood next to the closed door. Finally she opened up and I was most appreciative. It turns out she had never seen me from the window and didn’t know where I had gone. It was a very surreal moment falling through the back door with a helmet on in the middle of a class 5 hurricane at night. We both had to push hard to close the door behind me. I think I won't go out again. Lesson learned.
7:00 am Saturday
When day broke this morning there was an obvious slow down in the wind. It was still blasting but we could tell it was slowing. We were not sure (because we had been cut off from everything since 3:00 am Friday) but we thought that the Bitch (capital out of respect) was moving away. This gave us some hope, which we really needed, that the end was near. It took until 3:00 pm this afternoon before we could even think about leaving the house. It was still probably a class 1 or 2 storm but after seeing the same walls for so long I needed to get out. We dawned our wetsuits, grabbed the camera and headed out.
We were not really prepared for what we saw. The level of destruction was amazing. Power lines were lying all over the place and hanging down from poles. The trees and bushes were just sticks waving in the wind. Every leaf had been stripped clean from the branches. Debris was everywhere. The photos you see on the news don’t compare to the real thing. It really shook us up. As we walked toward the water front every view was more shocking than the last. Every street was packed with debris. Abandon cars were in the middle of the street. Concrete walls had fallen over and littered the streets with rubble. The ocean was still angry. You could see 15 foot waves in the distance. The first thing I looked for from a distance was the sea wall. It was the protector that, if standing I thought would save our water front. As we got closer I could see it was in tact. I had hope for the island. But when we rounded the corner on the water front all hopes were gone. Complete devastation! The buildings for the most part were in tact but they had all been stripped clean and piles of debris were lying around where the sea had left them. There were some people looking through the debris. At first you might think they were cleaning up or helping out. That was not the case. For those of you that know
The farther we walked the more devastation we saw. Each store looked worse than the last. I felt sick to my stomach and Encarna was not doing well either. Then in the distance something caught my eye. I had an idea of what it might be but was not sure what it was and it looked out of place. I asked Encarna to wait there while I confirmed what I saw. What I saw was pale white, like concrete rubble. There was part of a yellow rain coat attached to it. When I finally got close the naked body of a dead man was more shocking to me than I thought it would be. I had thought that it was possible but had hoped it was not real. He was face down on the street and pale white and swollen from all the water. This image can never leave my mind now.
When I told Encarna what it was she got very scared and nervous and wanted to call her family. As we returned we saw some friends and they said their cell phones still worked. Encarna called and felt better. We visited with them for an hour or so and it was nice to have some friendly contact again. They had found some baby sea turtle stranded on the street and were trying to rescue them. They looked so vulnerable but were still full of life. I hope they make it.
Now it is 8:14 and the wind is still blowing. It is probably still over 50 mph with gust much higher. Seems kinda pathetic after what we have lived through. We know it is the tail of the monster and that it will just keep getting weaker until morning. My friend Adrian said he has seen 6 hurricanes in his 30 years living in
The last 48 hours have been terrifying and exhausting. They qualify as a great adventure but they are not one I would ever like to repeat. I have been waiting to experience my first Hurricane for 5 years. Now that I have seen one first hand I hope to never see another.
No more adventure for a while. I am going to hold Encarna and fall asleep in her safe arms tonight.
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