It was like a monster walking over the island for 13 hours with the sound of an engine roaring and the crashing and banging of debris and trees. It was a time, a night of fear, prayer and hope.
I was in the house up in the rainforest where I used to live and Hugo passed through there like the Big Bad Wolf. We got wet during the storm but we didn’t lose the roof because in the middle of the storm we could feel the roof trying to pop, the pressure trying to force the roof off, like when you feel the pressure flying in a jet airliner. And I said no, no, we have to do something, so we opened up the doors. So water and wind came in but we ended up being one of the fortunate ones who didn’t lose their roof.
We had a lot of water flowing everywhere and a lot of the road was washed out. I would say 85 percent of the vegetation, trees and everything else, were destroyed. Mango, plum, avocado and breadfruit trees were down and there was nothing that was not damaged.
After the storm there was a lot of panic and people started looting, stealing and doing things. To get out from where we were we had to clear the road ourselves down from Creque Dam to the main road. Because there were trees all over the road, we drove through the cattle pastures, where there were no trees to fall, so we made new temporary roads that way to get to the main road.
When we got to town, there was a lot of panic and looting and people doing all kinds of things. We came into town to check in on the parents and see if they were alright. Their house didn’t lose the roof either but many others did. So compared to many we were very blessed.
It was very trying for a time. A lot of people were trying to leave the island, even native people. Families and friends all stayed together and worked in harmony to prepare for survival. After a few days, people’s families on St. Thomas and other places started sending food, water, medicine and so forth over by boat to St. Croix because they didn’t have as much damage over there.
With all the looting and such, the Arab store owners, they protected their stores, and in fact I’d say that really helped the community then because it kept some kind of order. They made money to be sure, but they kept some order, they had generators and it was business as usual, to some extent, in the middle of the looting and mayhem. When we went to the supermarket, everything was gone. But we had stores of beans and grains, and we gathered a lot of coconuts and other fruits from the trees. So we sprouted the beans and had a lot of salads of sprouts.
For two weeks our dogs ate only our leftovers and lots of hard coconut, from all the ones knocked to the ground. And we had fresh water from Creque Dam stream, so we could drink, wash clothes and bathe. But we didn’t have any power at all for awhile. A week or so after, we got a generator and were able to survive.
The government declared a state of emergency and they started assessing the damage and began to prepare for cleaning up.
And everyone, we started to help one another. It was a disaster but I would say the best part of Hugo to me was, it pulled the people together into unity. Some people were panicking, seeing men with machetes coming for them. But everyone had machetes in those days and up in the forest we all had chainsaws, axes, machetes, you name it. So we came down with chainsaws and axes and cleared the road.
And with no television, families became closer. People sat around telling stories instead of watching TV. For a while anyway; after a bit, there were generators rumbling everywhere, but before that there was a lot of old school family time that you don’t see much anymore.
