Hurricane Irma

***disclaimer- i wrote this before Maria hit St Croix and never got around to publishing it due to the craziness of in between the two storms. i will be writing another post about our (ongoing) experience with Hurricane Maria soon. we are still feeling overwhelmed with it all***

I never thought I'd be in a hurricane. Probably because I thought I'd spend my whole life on the West Coast where earthquakes are the natural disaster of choice. Moving here, we knew it'd be a possibility. We just didn't think it would be two months after we moved to St Croix.

I have a new respect for weather tracking and forecasting. There are so many variables that make a storm big or small or nothing. Brad and I have learned a lot from our obsessive watching of Irma and understanding what was happening. The technology and ability to be able to forecast a hurricane days before it hits... I am so incredibly grateful for that. No such luxury with earthquakes and tornadoes (that i am aware of. though i feel like i heard they are working on earthquake technology which would be amazing). The days before were spent stocking up on canned goods, water, batteries, propane, and other necessities we felt we would need. We knew we'd get hit by Irma... but we didn't know by how much. Forecasters seemed to be having a hard time getting her trajectory just right. One big thing was she didn't turn north when she was supposed to, but kept going west. Then she just about doubled in size, making her an even bigger question mark. What was going to happen?

Labor Day was spent moving furniture into the back of the house. Our house is set up pretty cool that way. The front is all windows. All.windows. Our bedroom, which is an addition is all windows. Seriously. Three walls of windows. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to look outside to the lush beauty of the Caribbean... but when a massive beast of a hurricane is barreling towards you, you second guess those big, bright windows quite a bit. We were unable to get plastic (plywood was too small and we'd have to get at least 13 sheets... ick), but we did get some weed block to block out the front room. This was more of a precaution for debris flying around and possibly breaking a window and lessening the impact effect inside. The back of the house only has windows to the carport, so we felt much safer (albeit confined and depressed due to lack of light). The night before Irma, I finally felt truly nervous and scared. I don't like not knowing. I didn't like having to think what we should do if our roof gets ripped off. I was freaked thinking about my kids getting hurt. A million different scenarios were going through my head about what we'd need to do. We were as prepared as we were going to be- we had our food, our propane and camping stove, lanterns and flashlights, full tank of gas, water (bottled, frozen, gallon and five gallon jugs), emergency backpacks for evacuation, and a second place/shelter for refuge if our home was compromised. Now we had to wait. 

And I tell you what... and I almost don't want to say this due to the massive destruction elsewhere... I am just being completely honest... it was kind of anti-climatic and cool. We have storm doors to the back half of the house and were going to shut them when the storm hit. The wind started around 6am. Electricity got turned off at 6:45 for us. It rained off and on, but was mostly windy. It wasn't bad windy so I went into our room to escape the dark of the other rooms... and just watched. Watched the trees sway and bend and swirl with the wind. Heard branches creak and break. Listened to the gusts rattle the leaves and trees. It was mesmerizing. If we hadn't had a curfew in place until 6am the next morning, I probably would have been the stupid person driving to an outlook to watch the waves crash and see everything bend to Mother Nature and her beast, Irma. I did escape to the carport to watch even more, but Brad made me come inside and stop going out. The boys hardly noticed anything. They kept themselves busy playing games, learning chess from Brad, snacking, and other kid stuff. We made sure to include them in the discussion and preparation of Irma beforehand to lessen the fear they might have. Between 12:30 and 3:30 seemed to be the most active she was here. 

The next day we got into our car to escape the house, charge our phones in our car, and assess the damage done to our island. I really didn't know what to expect. Sitting on our hill seemed to protect us from the worst of the storm, but how did everyone else fare? Driving around, I feel like we were able to breathe a sigh of relief and release a huge burden- our island was intact, for the most part. There were quite a number of downed electrical poles, uprooted trees, broken branches, a metal fence was down, but other than that we came out on top. We are located in Christiansted, which is north midland of the island. Talking to someone from Frederiksted, the only other city here and on the west end, they got hit a bit harder. The whole island was without power, though downtown Christiansted had power by Thursday afternoon so Brad was able to return to work by Friday. Our cell phones worked until about 2pm-ish on Thursday, when Irma hit Puerto Rico. Our carrier is Verizon and our cell towers are located on PR so we were without text, call, and data until Friday. And even then, it was sporadic and in and out. That was hard for me- to not know how the other islands were faring. We had heard beforehand what Irma had done to the Leeward Islands since she hit there first, but we knew she'd be skirting close to the BVI and our sister islands, St Thomas, St Johns, and Water Island. Close? More like on top. When we finally got data back, I couldn't believe what it looked like over there and my heart breaks thinking about how horrendous it must have been, and still is trying to survive with so little (if anything at all). I am so proud to be a part of St Croix, where people have been working together to help the evacuees as well as deliver much needed goods to those islands. Picking up the pieces and infrastructure over there is going to be a long process, but I know they will get there. In the mean time, St Croix will be the new hub for tourism for the USVI. We already have two cruise ships scheduled for this Sunday. It will be interesting to see how and if tourism changes the island very much. 

I almost feel like I'm cheating when I say I lived through a hurricane. Probably because we didn't suffer like others have. But we did and I am ever so grateful for our outcome. Our LDS branch decided we needed to answer the call to help others. So instead of having our third hour, we went out and purchased necessities and goods to send to our brothers and sisters on St Thomas. What an amazing experience that was to witness. A few sisters in our branch organized putting together hygiene kits to send over. Others were packing up boxes and bins just full of goods. We filled up two SUV's and a truck, 1,000 lbs. It may be small to what others have been able to do, but it felt good to do something. Brad has been itching to get over there and help, but he just can't. Hopefully soon, since the ferry is up and running (or so I've heard). This is a definite drawback to living the island life- you're stuck here. I am hopeful and excited to watch the goodness keep being given to these other islands and will keep praying they get the help they need on so many levels. This was quite the experience and I hope to not forget the lessons we've learned.