Several Wallaceburg residents are concerned for the safety of their family and friends, as Hurricane Irma hurdles through the Caribbean and towards the southern United States.
The category 5 hurricane, which is expected to make landfall in Florida on the weekend, has sparked mandatory evacuation orders across the Sunshine State, and has already left a path of destruction in its historic wake.
Scared for her family
Wallaceburg resident Sandy O’Neil, who moved to town from Miami a few years ago, told the Sydenham Current she is worried about her family.
“Basically, everyone that I have talked to is waiting until Friday to see what happens,” she said.
“My sister said that all grocery stores near her (in Clermont, Florida, a suburb of Orlando) are out of water and no one has gas either. Since they have been through so many hurricanes, everyone knows that the path can change at any moment, it can also weaken once over the gulf. So they are all just waiting until the last minute to make a decision about leaving. It’s scary being here and not being able to do anything to help.”
O’Neil said she has first-hand experience of being impacted by a hurricane, as she was living in North Miami Beach when Hurricane Sandy hit the U.S. in 2012.
“I was two blocks from the ocean and lived on the second floor of an apartment building,” she said.
“I knew that my house wouldn’t flood, since we were up on the second floor, so I did the same thing. Sandy was initially predicted to hit Miami head on and so I was bracing for evacuation. I made the last minute decision to stay and wait it out, the course of the hurricane changed last minute and didn’t really hit us all that hard. There was a little flooding and the sand washed up from the beaches and covered the streets, making it impossible to go anywhere for about a day or two.”
She said her parents were worried about her at the time.
“I knew we would be okay,” she said.
“I lost power for a few hours, but it was on by the time I woke up in the morning. I think most Floridians handle hurricanes in a similar way.”
Worried about her fellow writers
Wallaceburg’s Sherri DeWolf, who spends time each winter in Key West, Florida, said she is worried for a handful of her friends, who all write blogs down in the Caribbean and Florida Keys.
“I’ve been in touch with my Caribbean friends non-stop,” DeWolf told the Sydenham Current.
“I belong to a group of island writers of which stretch St. Maarten, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and Nassau. This thing is a beast.”
DeWolf said her Key West friends are evacuating and preparing their homes and businesses.
“(On Wednesday) morning they began mandatory evacuation for visitors and (today), residents. It’s a single lane highway out at least 4 hours, on a good day, to Miami… they’re predicting at least eight to get out. The airport in Key West is closing (on Thursday.)”
DeWolf added: “We haven’t heard from one of the writers in St. Maarten. She was hit first. I’ve seen some pics and the airport there is destroyed. Really hoping this doesn’t change the Caribbean as we know it. It takes so long to rebuild from this type of devastation.”
DeWolf said she met all of these women at the beginning of June in Puerto Rico for an Island Writers’ Retreat.
“We’ve all been super close since,” she said.
“It’s been really hard knowing that we’re all being affected in some way and just waiting for the outcome to what extent. The eye is going over the marina in Tortola (BVI) where one of my friends has her four boats, one of which is her family home. They are up in Chicago at the moment waiting it out, having left a few weeks ago for a family vacation not knowing this hurricane would affect them.
DeWolf said she keeps hoping and praying that something changes with the path of the hurricane.
Praying for her sister
Wallaceburg’s Cherie Deburger said her sister is currently in the process of evacuating her home in Marathon Key, Florida, en-route to the west coast in Cape Coral, Florida.
“Hurricane Irma is a game changer, there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop what is about to happen,” she said.
“I was talking to my sister as she ran around her house trying to decide what to take and what would fit in their truck, knowing that whatever was left behind, she may never see again.”
Deburger said they just lost their mother last November.
“So there are some very precious sentimental things that she can’t leave behind,” Deburger said.
“We all wanted them to fly here and stay with us but as everyone knows, the airports and traffic are just crazy. It’s just another reminder to never take anything or anyone for granted because in the blink of an eye it can all change.”
Flight cancelled to Cuba
Wallaceburg’s Robin Southgate said he received a call from West Jet on Thursday, telling him that his flight scheduled to leave Saturday at 9:55 a.m., was cancelled.
“They are pulling all of their flights because of the wicked storms that we have going at the moment,” he told the Sydenham Current.
Southgate said he communicates with family and friends in Cuba, almost on a daily basis, as he owns a 10-bedroom Casa Particular (bed and breakfast) in Trinidad, Cuba.
“They are putting wood in the windows to protect any glass,” he said.
“We are six inch concrete. We have tile floors, tile ceilings. We have lived through this before, not quite so violent, but we don’t anticipate a lot of damage in our particular place.”
Southgate said his casa is on the south-central part of Cuba.
“We are surrounded by mountains, so we will get a lot of water and we will get some wind, but we won’t get the real bad stuff,” he said.
“At least we don’t think we will. We never have before anyway. Anyone we have talked to has been there a long time. The bottom line is that (drinking) water is the biggest problem for the people like me because normal Canadians, Americans, Brits have to have good water. The water in Cuba is dreadful, which is why you always have to drink potable water.”
Southgate said the people of Cuba are used to dealing with hurricanes.
“They go around life kind of normal,” he said.
“They don’t go around getting too excited. Not too many people have televisions, so they are not seeing the stuff, the continual bad, bad, bad, bad of television.”
Southgate said he is delaying his trip for a week, before heading back to Trinidad.
Updated information on Hurricane Irma
Click here for the latest, most up to date information about Hurricane Irma: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
