FEARING FOR FAMILY
Holland College student worries about loved ones in the Bahamas, Red Cross gears up for relief efforts and P.E.I. couple survives devastating hit in Saint Maarten
Holland College student worries about loved ones in the Bahamas; Red Cross gears up for relief efforts
Christal Stanford knows all too well how destructive a hurricane can be.
Having witnessed last year’s hurricane Matthew destroy the small island she’s from in the Bahamas, the 25-year-old Holland College student said she’s worried about her family back home, now in hurricane Irma’s path.
Stanford said she’s been in constant contact with her loved ones, and is worried that communication might soon end.
“It’s depressing because we know that, at some point in time when the weather shifts, that we’re not going to be in contact, and that’s the scariest part.”
Stanford said her family is in the process of boarding up their homes, stocking up on food and water and trying desperately to get all of their family who lives on some of the smaller islands in one place.
Like Matthew, Irma is a Category 5 hurricane.
“You hear about the devastation, but to actually be there and see things flying around you, see people who have lost their homes, no power, no food, no water, everything’s gone and it’s something I truly wished I’d never experienced. So that’s playing through my mind.”
Despite being safe here on P.E.I., Stanford wishes she were with her family.
“I’d rather sit in the dark and hold hands and play cards and laugh and talk than to be here in Canada,” she said. “It’s security knowing that you’re there with the people you love, going through the torment together.”
For now, all Stanford can do is pray.
“I just want to tell everybody that I love them and I’m going to continuously try my best to keep in contact.”
Holland College has set up a website with an emergency contact form providing international students with information about the hurricane, and as a way for their families back home to contact them through the college’s international office.
UPEI has also contacted its international students and have resources and counsellors available.
Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, Souris residents Keith and Terri MacDonald are stuck in the now devastated island of Saint Maarten, waiting to get back home.
The couple arrived at Divi Little Bay Resort on Sept. 2, to what Keith described as “beach weather”.
But that wouldn’t last long. As Tuesday evening approached, winds blew hard, the sky became “black as coal” and it started to rain.
Guests were brought into a building MacDonald said was built for hurricane protection, and when they emerged the next afternoon, they were shocked.
“It looked like a war zone,” he said. “Trees torn out of the ground, palm trees broken 10 feet off the ground, roofs torn off resort housing, more sea garbage than you can imagine.”
Trash was spread across the resort grounds, cars were turned over on their sides, and dead fish were scattered about, he said.
“The sea was in the parking lot.”
MacDonald said he hopes to get out of the Caribbean over the next couple of days and said he, his wife and another couple they are travelling with, are doing well and said that most people are “in great spirits”.
“It looked like a war zone,” he said. “Trees torn out of the ground, palm trees broken 10 feet off the ground, roofs torn off resort housing, more sea garbage than you can imagine.” Keith MacDonald
Laura Johnston-Montigny, provincial director of the Canadian Red Cross, said as of this article going to print, the organization is waiting to see if their partner organization in the Caribbean needs more assistance, as they are currently in the assessment phase.
“We are on standby to see what other needs there might be from a volunteer or a preparedness perspective,” she said. “Right now, we’re on a financial appeal.”
Donations can be made online at Redcross.ca or dropped off at the Red Cross office.