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The Caribbean Hurricane PageUpdates from the Islands
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Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 22:08:19 -0300 From: Hurricane Cove Bungalows (hcove@caribsurf.com) Subject: We are still here! Hi Gert, Just to let you know that we are not "gone"! Although Hurricane Cove Bungalows was hit by 2 tornadoes, and according to reports looks like toothpicks on the hillside, all guests and staff survived without a scratch. The hotel is open and guests are in residence. Construction is underway and additional bungalows are being opened for guests as repairs are completed. Valerie Patanella
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 21:47:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Lorraine LadyLwyr (llewandrowski@webtv.net) Subject: st. kitts hello all, spoke wih my sister briefly and she reports that power went back on in West Farm and that should be going on at Ross soon as well Students have had classes for the past several days in hot classrooms, wih no power, but getting back to normal and some classes have tests coming up soon. The Red Cross was collecting supplies and things for people who lost all. thanks for sharing info! sincerely, Lorraine
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 16:57:42 -0500 From: Kelly L. Fox (klfox@ppco.com) Subject: Nevis A friend works at the Four Seasons on Nevis. Water and electric at the hotel are scarce. Some employees will be called back to work in October but the resort does not plan to re-open until December at the earliest. My friend was able to catch a flight back to the U.S. yesterday so apparently the airport in St. Kitts is operational. K. Fox at klfox@ppco.com
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 16:38:05 EDT From: O1J@aol.com Subject: St. Kitts Please note: retraction about previous information given about Rawlins Plantation. Rawlins Plantation is not destroyed. I passed along incorrect information to you. My greatest apologies to everyone. Julia Oberweis (I deleted it already from the original message, but for those who don't re-read the previous submissions...Rawlins is still there! -Gert)
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 1980 21:37:59 -0800 From: Laurie and Richard Page (randlpag@caribsurf.com) Subject: regarding st .Kitts my Name is Laruie Page, I am a spouce of a Ross Univeristy student living in St. Kitts in the west Indies. We are origainally from Ontario Canada. We live in Frigate Bay and now have power and water restored! The cerfu is still in effect and will be indefinately. So far there has been lille rain and things are drying out. Today a friend went back to the states on American Eagle it was the first flight out and they are up and running for tomorow. Students are back to school and are making up classes. Town does not all have power, but things are moving along quite well Laurie Page randlpag@caribsurf.com
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 18:56:32 -0400 From: Anne Bennett (annebenn@mail.hurontel.on.ca) Subject: St Kitts I have talked to IPBV and been advised that repairs to the Frigate Bay area, are well ahead of schedule. Where my condo is, much thanks must be given to our Manager Pat Rogers and her Staff, who have worked a miracle. I think that most of that area - other than the trees - will be back to normal very soon. We now have to wait for Hydro and the airport to recover as well. Everyone in the Frigate Bay area is working flat out - so that vacations are not spoilt. A Disaster area has been declared for St Kitts, and a Prime Ministers statement may be found at www.stkitts&nevis on the Official Government page, giving details of damage to the island and where collections of money, food and other items may be made. Please take the time to read this. As soon as the airport is open I shall be going down there. I would say to the Kittitians and tourist areas....CONGRATULATIONS on you stupendous efforts. You really are what the Caribbean is all about.
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 18:29:16 -0400 From: Trevor A. Phipps (taphipps@caribsurf.com) Subject: Re: Hurricane Georges After that last message, i lost power....It was restored late last night.. WE in BAsseterre (capital, commercial centre of the island) are very lucky. In that for economic activity to recover/continue Basseterre must be given back all utilities as quickly as possible. Airports, Seaports, Govt Offices, Banks, Main Hospital (what's left of it), Supermarkets, Most gas stations are all in Basseterre. it was really scary. Unfortunately, it may be weeks before some of the rural areas get back their electricity. The staff of the electricity department are working some extra long shifts in order to restore power as quickly as possible. Example some of them were up on the electricity poles around 7:30 - 8:00 pm last night. We got electricity shortly after they came down from the poles on our street. I will not exaggerate the damage done to St. Kitts or the estimated costs in dollars to repair the physical damage. For information on the damage done by Georges go to http://www.skbee.com. I do not know how to begin quantifying the emotional damage, stress etc caused by Georges. It hit us hard.
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 16:58:12 EDT From: O1J@aol.com Subject: St. Kitts Greetings from Boston, Massachusetts. I just got off the telephone with a close friend and family member of St. Kitts Dairies and Rawlins Plantation. Spirits are good, considering the circumstances. Electricity is restored to parts of Frigate Bay, directly above the Jack Tar Golf Course. As an owner of a condo in Island Paradise Beach Village, I realize many of us have SECOND homes on the island of St. Kitts. My prayers are with everyone, especially those that have lost or have damage to their primary residence, and/or lost loved ones. Thank you to residents and staff at IPBV. Hello to everyone!! You are not forgotten. You are in my prayers day and night. I am open to helping in any way I can. God Bless. Julia Oberweis O1J@aol.com
I have received the following message from Leo (YARDIE94@worldnet.att.net). I have checked with the St.Kitts and Nevis Tourist Board and this is indeed the one and only official established disasterfund. So this is no scam! -Gert From: Mikey (mikey@iriejam.com) To: mikey881@hotmail.com (mikey881@hotmail.com) Date: Thursday, September 24, 1998 6:58 PM Subject: Hurricane George in St. Kitts & Nevis From Permanent Mission of St. Kitts & Nevis To the United Nations 414 East 75th Street, 57th Floor New York, New York 10021 23 September 1998 RELEASE =96 EFFECTS OF HURRICANE GEORGES Hurricane winds with speeds in excess of 125 miles per hour trounced St. Kitts and Nevis in the early morning of Monday, September 21, 1998. In its wake, Hurricane Georges, left a scene of devastation. It is estimated that 70 percent of residential houses have sustained severe damage and at least 50 percent have been completely destroyed; some 14,000 persons were adversely affected and 3,000 are without homes. Much of the island is without essential services such as electricity, telephone and water supply. Serious damage was also reported to capital infrastructure including the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport. The EC$60 million cruise ship facility has been hit and there has been extensive damage to the air traffic control tower and the new terminal building at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport. Only emergency aircraft are being allowed to land. The British Naval Vessel HMS Sheffield is in port providing mobile telecommunication service. The assistance required includes reactivating the Operating Theater at the Joseph N. France General Hospital which had its roof blown off, similar damage occurred in other hospitals in the rural areas. Day-care centers, schools, police stations, and major roads have also sustained damage. The hotel industry has been generally spared but several properties have reported some damage. Both islands have been hit with the most extensive damage to St. Kitts.=20 The extent of the damage is presently being assessed. The Governments of St. Kitts and Nevis is appealing for emergency assistance in the form of canned and ready-to-eat foods, electric generators, hospital/medical supplies, building materials, drinking water, and other materials for temporary shelter to assist the many people without adequate housing. Initial reports indicate that all productive sectors including sugar and non-sugar agriculture, and manufacturing have come to a standstill.=20 Thousands of people are expected to be out work. The government has begun the full asssessment and plan for the clean-up campaigns. We urge persons willing to make donations of any of the items listed above to contact the Mission at (212) 535-1234 or fax (212) 535-6854 or (212) 734- 6511. Any financial contributions should be made payable to the St. Kitts & Nevis Disaster Fund. 9/22/98 NOTE FROM VITA: The mission has also indicated that there is an urgent need for water filtration systems and water purification tablets. Updates will be made as they become available. mikey IrieJam http://iriejam.com
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 20:03:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Lorraine LadyLwyr (llewandrowski@webtv.net) Subject: st. kitts thanks again to all for sharing information. its thursday evening and just got off the phone with my sister from the vet school. classes did resume today, they used some of the animals that had been killed for necropsy examples. about 40 of the students have to find new homes to live in. they are all helping eachother. one student, Amy had a broken arm, though there was no x ray machine to be had, it was set for her, so hopefully it will be fine, another student, Lee, came to school with some gauze on his arm, but he was OK, looks like the students have weathered the storm well. everyone is accounted for. the landlord of one of the students serverely injured his hip in a fall off a ladder taking down storm boarding, i'm sure Dr. Wilkinson at the hospital is very busy, he is a fantastic doctor, with much experience both in the US and in St. Kitts, and US Board Ceritified. the big grocery store, RAMS, is open with generators, and students went shopping for food again . a few of the students with no housing had moved into Ocean Terrace Hotel. the only problem is trying to study in the evenings with no electricity and it appears it will be a while before the electricity is restored. there was some word that Ross University headquarters in New York City was sending generators to the vet school. so, it appears that things are progressing on st. kitts, but let us not forget all the people yet to be hit by the storm and pray for their safety. sincerely, Lorraine
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 15:13:56 -0400 From: Corinne Smith (daysmith@daffodil.infochan.com) Subject: Re: Georges... Thursday, September 24, 1998 from Kingston, Jamaica Good news Gert! All we got was a few showers through last night and today, so life has returned to normal here. I received the following report from friends in Nevis which I though might interest you: Hello from Nevis We are all ok but it was fuuuuu--ing scary ! If that sucker had come through here@ 150 mph we would be gone. Where to start ?? I couldn't believe how long it took this storm to get here. My husband took my daughter swimming Sunday afternoon once we were all boarded up. I had the storm up on the internet (Atlantic Satellite Image) and I could see the storm just hanging there and here the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. It was very strange having that beautiful weather knowing disaster could be just around the corner. Oualie was evacuated except for 3 rooms, The manager, Ajit, moved in to the hotel. Sunday evening it started to blow but the worst was around 1:30 am to 3:30 when the north corner of my roof started creaking and groaning and chunks of concrete came tumbling down and water stared pouring in. I was really scared. Then the eye came and everyting was quiet for about 40 minutes and started up again; this time from the south and east. It came with a lot of rain. We had two leaks in the roof which brought a lot of water in the house but we had > moved things already. My daughter slept through the entire storm. I got up at 8:30 am and we could open things on the front since all the wind and rain was coming from the back. Around 10:30 we ventured out even though it was still blowing. We met all kinds of people on the road and we all starting clearing trees and telephone/electric poles so we could pass. I was amazed at the attitude of people. Everyone was out helping each other instead of complaining and whining and wondering where their government hand out was. On other islands there would be looting instead of the neighbor helping neighbor attitude. Damage report: Four Seasons is closed until 1st December. The entire ground floor is under water. The pier and beach are gone. Charlestown had little damage except for the odd roof missing. Pinney's Beach Hotel lost major portions of their roof. Tequila Sheila and Inn at Cades Bay pretty much unharmed. Prinderella's building is ok but the beach is gone and waves are crashing right up against the foundations of the building. Cliffdwellers lost the manager's cottage roof but all else looks ok. House in Jones Estate were it the hardest (this according to 2 police officers who came to my house doing island wide damage assessments). Many houses lost shingles and tar paper and got a lot of water inside but no structural damage. Miss June flooded out with about 5 inches of water inside. She is cleaning up and should be open in time for the begining of the "season" if not sooner. Most of the other houses had only minor damage except those who lost lots of shingles and tar paper. Ridge Road is about the worst. A few houses lost their roof completely - a tornado must have gone through there. All the other houses in this area are fine. Oualie lost lots of shingles and tar paper off the roofs so water inside. Screens all ripped out; screen doors blown off; water tanks on the ground, solar panels too. Lots of big trees down. Yesterday everyone came out; even people who had nothing to do with the hotel but had no damage themselves and wanted to help and cleaned up. The grounds are looking great. Two backhoes are working on the beach which will be twice the size it was before and we have four crews working on re-shingling the roofs. We opened for lunch yesterday and the bar was packed last night. We should have twelve rooms down by the end of today and be ready to receive new guests in about 3 days. Which is a good thing because we will be getting all the bookings from Hurricane Cove - its gone ! 1 building was undamaged; 2 need minor repairs and the rest - it looks like someone dumped a box of toothpicks on the hill. The had a tornado go through and cut one in half leaving the glass cabinet with all the glasses and a toaster and coffee pot standing on the counter - no walls - no roof. [Apparently Hurricane Cove is still there... See report above dated Tue, 6 Oct 1998 22:08:19 -Gert] The airport is ok but Nisbet Plantation had a lot of damage - no idea how long they will be closed and . I hear Golden Rock got it bad but can't confirm. I have heard of no other major damage and not too many poles down. We should have government power back in about 10 days to 2 weeks. Some phones are still out but the phone company is already out and working on them. Well - we sure took some blows but we survived. If you need any more details or want to reach someone who's phone is out just e-mail and I'll see what I can do. Regards from Nevis
Earlier reports have been moved to this webpage.
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