Friday, October 17, 2008

Hurricane Omar

Wednesday night and Thursday morning we got hit by part of Hurricane Omar. I don't think we got hit by the brunt of the storm but we did get a part of the Hurricane. We were warned by the US embassy that the Hurricane was coming and we were prepared with our 10 gallons of bottled water and extra food. Where we live is Hurricane safe. Now I
 am not sure really what that means because we still have windows but I think that just means that our building won't be blown down so we were safe. We had a little bit of water seeping through our doors 
but that was no big deal when you i put a town at the base of the doors. It was a pretty cool storm. It was thundering and lightening and earlier Wednesday night we were on campus and could hear the waves crashing up against the bank. It was pretty amazing to witness. Thursday morning Christopher woke up and walked to class and said that the river by our apartment was filled up to the road and it was moving really fast. After he got to campus they got an announcement from the Prime Minister of Dominica that had ordered all businesses and public places to be closed for the day and that all students must go home because the campus was going to be locked. I heard from one of my friends that in the town right next to 
ours that there were boats washed up into the roads. We ended up Thursday with the brownest water we have ever had here in Dominica and temporarily with no electricity and all day wit
h no cable. Here are a couple of pictures I got some of the pictures from my friend Ashley's blog of our pier that is by the school. This is where we go when we go to the beach, but not today. The last picture is at the bottom of the stairs that come from campus to the beach. But don't worry we are safe and sound. Yesterday was actually a really great day because Christopher and I got to stay at home all day together, something we don't get to do very often. So while you all are getting the snow days back at home, we get "Hurricane days" here in Dominica!

Crazy Hurricanes
In the town of Portsmouth right by our town. The locals said the only way to get the big boats off of the land is to hire a tug boat from Miami, which is really expensive. So there is a good chance these boats will never float again.
on the turn from Picard to Portsmouth

streets in Portsmouth, piles and piles of debris

In Portsmouth



The pier on a normal day from the water

Hurricane Omar takes over

The pier is demolished

Yikes!

One of the many washed up boats!
This is right below campus. The stairs lead from Campus to the beach.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Katy, Great pictures! and I love the music. I am glad you guys are safe. Love you Mom

Mimi said...

Thanks for the great pics!! I love Ginny Owens and "If You Want Me To" is one of my favorites. Quite an amazing story!!!
Glad you were safe.