Joaquin and the Island

There once was a little boy named Joaquin, he was bit mischievous, but for the most part well behaved. But, then he grew up and became a great big old, mean hurricane. And he decided to clobber Long Island Bahamas. For 30 hours, he threw buckets of torrential rain and fierce 150 mile an hour winds at poor old Long Island. Then he headed to Rum Cay, and wiped it out too. Slow and deliberate was this attack, and then he was pulled away, grabbed by the hand of God himself, and he was sent out to sea to die for his transgressions. I wish this were a story, a child's book perhaps with colored illustrations and thick pages. Sadly, it is all too real for the people that live on these Bahama islands. We don't even hear a single mention of this storm on our news now, it is after all, yesterday's news. But, it is a very real thing to those that still do not have power, or water, or food.

We finally made contact with our friends Steve and Kathy over the weekend. They, like everyone on the island, took a huge hit from the storm. They lost a lot of the roofing on the house, some railing blew away, as did some of the porch and a corner of the roof over it was taken. They survived though, the people of these islands are survivors. Somehow, amazingly, nobody lost their life to the storm, but the cost in a physical sense is high. The water was 10 feet deep in places along the main highway, entire buildings and businesses destroyed. Our friends, that took us fishing on the boat Conch Quest, the Malis's, lost their boat in the storm. It washed up on rocks I was told, and was destroyed. A sad ending for sure, what a nice boat to lose. The house that we had a picnic for everyone, at Lochaber, is ruined. The stories of the devastation from the storm are still unfolding, and for the people that lived through it, it will be the story that lives forever. Like when Kennedy was shot, the World Trade Centers collapse, and now this.

I wish that storms didn't have peoples names. It is not fair to the people with the same name to forever be associated with such cruel devastation. These storms should simply be named #1 or #2, or #6. Sorry Joaquin, you are just too inhumane to have a name...

Some raw footage can be found online, but little is available because there is very limited communication and internet service on the island. This is a short video of the storm as it hit Long Island. "> If you can help with a donation of money or supplies, please consider doing so. There are plenty of donation sites available, a quick online search is all that is needed. Or, contact me and I will help you get your donation sent.