So far, I've heard second hand stories that there were no deaths in Thibaud. However, aerial photos show lots of damage to buildings. The photo below is one example. The green circle at the left side shows the school. The blue circle shows my house. At the bottom right, you can see the dark hole in the rock cliff that is our bat cave.
Some of you might be interested in reading the account written below by the Peace Corps Director for the Eastern Caribbean. She is based in St.Lucia, and tells the story of rescuing my Peace Corps colleagues (including my replacement), who had been "consolidated" into the Flamboyant Hotel in downtown Roseau (as I had been during Tropical Storm Grace). Had the storm come just one month earlier, I would have been caught up in it as well. Rather than copying the photos she references below, just imagine some of the worst pictures the news has shown of this tragedy. Here is her story (shared with her permission):
These photos show Dominica - an island so beautiful, and then so destroyed when Hurricane Maria tore through on Monday, going from a Cat 1 to a Cat 5 in less than 24 hours, far outpacing any forecasts. The freakishly quick intensification of Maria that happened more rapidly than virtually any hurricane meant we could not get our Peace Corps Volunteers and visiting HQ staff off the island before the storm hit as no planes or boats were running, we could only watch in horror as the weather intensified so dramatically. We consolidated them in Roseau, and were able to be in touch with them through text and WhatsApp until 12:30 that night, along with two of our three Dominican staff, then the eye passed over and nothing. No communication coming out from anyone. Maria wiped out the island's communication system, leaving the rest of the world in the dark about the fate of Dominica.Our Volunteers and the two visiting staff from DC worked together, and with one amazing Dominican who was the manager at the hotel, to make it through the hurricane and 3 1/2 days in a building that was heavily damaged - though much less so than the other hotels nearby that lost entire roofs, all windows and were partially collapsed. They did a phenomenal job of making the best of a very tough situation, all the while so concerned about the families in their home communities. Thankfully they had the PC SAT phone with them - it was our lifeline to them.
Peace Corps was determined to get our Volunteers out as soon as we could. We were able to contract private boats to take us to the island. My colleague and friend Christine S. and I arrived at the marina at 1AM on Thursday, boat captains searching for word on the seas between St. Lucia and Dominica, finally green light to go at 3:30AM, and we were on our way at 4:00.
Eight hours later we approached the southern tip of Dominica - and what we saw broke our hearts. Trees tossed like matchsticks, the ones left standing completely devoid of foliage. The "Nature Island" stripped of its beautiful, beautiful natural habitat. Motoring up into Roseau we saw debris everywhere, landslides, houses without roofs, the main waterfront street every building impacted, stacks of uprooted trees on the shorelines, the vibrant fishing boats piled on each other, cruise ship pier destroyed, ferry terminal compromised, and swells in the ocean preventing us going ashore.
Our Volunteers saw us come in to the area and immediately were in touch to ask for the plan. We had told them that would be devised once the boat captains could see firsthand the situation in Roseau. We told them what we were seeing - and they know the country so well, they steered us a bit further north to the main cargo port. Our local Associate Peace Corps Director came up huge for us - she was able to get to town and shuttle our Volunteers and their suitcases to the port. Meanwhile we were still searching for a way to find a place they could board the boat. And then came the news the gate to the port had been locked by police who had then left and told workers no one could get out to the port without going through Immigration - but no one was there from Immigration. What ensued was something out of a movie, with me demanding the boat to get up to the pier so I could climb on, running to see our Volunteers and local APCD and beginning to work with anyone on that pier to let them in, while Christine revved into fierce mode to stop the boat captains from leaving and heading back to St. Lucia without us. Eventually after SAT phones call with PC Washington and US Embassy Bridgetown - both so helpful in the crisis, especially the team in IAP PC HQ - and begging/cajoling/talking with finally someone who could make a difference, Christine pulling out all the stops to prevent the boat captains from leaving, and our Dominican APCD going to the police station - driving through checkpoints - talking to the Immigration guys, finally two of the kindest Immigration people I have ever met showed up at the port and treated us all like solid gold. We were able to get the Volunteers through by 3:45PM, shaving close to the 4PM curfew in place.
Our Volunteers headed on the 1/2 mile or so walk down to the pier with such joy to be getting on the boats, and such sadness to be leaving Dominica in a state of massive destruction. I don't think there was a dry eye on either boat as we motored down the shoreline and slowly slipped away from the battered Dominican coastline into the open sea. Five hours later we pulled into St. Lucia.
This experience is unlike any other in my life. The deep sadness to see a beloved place so changed by the force of nature, incredible gratitude to the Dominican hotel manager and local Peace Corps Associate Director for what they did in a time of natural disaster in their country for our Peace Corps Volunteers, fierce determination to get our Volunteers back to safety, deep respect for the resiliency of our PCVs in how they handled this unsettling to terrifying situation, thankfulness for "Thelma to my Louise" kick ass Christine, and a renewed faith in woman/mankind.
We are working with our evacuated PCVs into this week and so I'm limited on my FB and any other time to talk or respond to messages of concern, but I wanted to share this as many of you have asked how we are after Maria.
Holding Dominica in our hearts as they work to rebuild their beautiful country.
Finally, on a lighter note, I thought I'd share this little parody song that some of the Peace Corps Volunteers created to describe their experience during Hurricane Maria. I think it gives you an idea of what they went through, and also their strong desire to return. [The acronym "HOR" stands for Home of Record, where all these PCVs have been sent until a decision is made as to whether they can return to Dominica or be sent to other islands.]
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"[Sing along to Toto's "Africa" to get a glimpse into surviving a Category 5 hurricane:]
I hear Maria echo in the night
and she is making a real hot mess of this island
Making landfall 6:30 tonight
Powers gone but Bananagrams keeps me from going crazy
I brought my bags down just in time
for the windows to blow out all over the Flamboyant
Megan turned to me as if to say, “I left all my laundry on the line…”
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hurricane or two could ever do
I’m going back to Dominica
First going back to HOR for 45 days
Car alarms cry out in the night
as we get restless lying on some tables in the basement
I know we’re in for a long night
as sure as Waitikubuli rises above the Caribbean Sea
I seek to find a dry pillow, frightened of this thing beneath my head
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hurricane or two could ever do
I’m going back to Dominica
First going back to HOR for 45 days
PANFLUTE
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that hurricane or two could ever do
I’m going back to Dominica
I’m going back to Dominica
I’m going back to Dominica
I’m going back to Dominica
I’m going back to Dominica
First going back to HOR for 45 days."
Thanks so much for this! My daughter Rebecca was one of thise PC vols, and returned to us last night!
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