Having followed Hurricane Irma’s path of destruction through the Caribbean during the past week, Bajans across Florida are “praying for the best” but wouldn’t be surprised if things turned extremely ugly and disastrous.
From the nation’s Consul-General in Miami, Colin Mayers, and an airline employee near Fort Lauderdale to a college professor and an Episcopal priest in Orlando and a banker in Tampa Bay the reaction was essentially the same as the monster Hurricane Irma which almost wiped Barbuda off the map narrows its focus on Florida’s Gulf Coast: “we have done what can be done and all we can do now is wait.”
Those words were spoken by the Rev. John Garry Edwards, rector of St Sebastian by-the-Sea, an Episcopal parish in Orlando. He obeyed an instruction from state and local authorities and evacuated his home near the water in preparation for the hurricane’s expected onslaught. Victor Springer, treasurer of the Barbados Association of Tampa Bay felt the same way.
“There has been a mandatory evacuation order and we are complying,” said Father Edwards, who was elevated to the priesthood in August and installed as rector of the church located on an inlet along the shores of Orlando. “We have prayed for lives to be spared and for any hurricane damage to be minimal and we have left it in God’s hands where it belongs. At the same time people have boarded up, stocked up with food and other necessities.”
Springer may be far from Orlando and is firmly established in Wesley Chapel, 20 miles north of Tampa Bay but he echoed the Rev. Edwards’ sentiments as he too awaits Irma’s furry.
“We have boarded up, stocked our home with food and water that can last us for weeks and are as hopeful as we can be in the circumstances,” was the way Springer, a banker put it. “We are not scared and we know it’s something we have to deal with and are keep praying for the best. Things are quite calm in Tampa Bay and people are just waiting.”
Springer, treasurer of the Barbados Association of Tampa Bay, described the Florida City, as “cordial” and ready” for the onslaught.
Dr Dale Husbands, a community college professor of information systems in Orlando for more than 20 years, said that he and his family were very prepared, having secured their home for the 150 mile an hour winds and the heavy rains which were expected by the forecasters.
“We have been through this kind of thing before, having lived through at least three strong hurricanes. Granted Irma is turning out to be the strongest which is expected to rip through the Florida Keys archipelago,” he told NATION NEWS in a telephone conversation from his spacious home. “We are not leaving our home and seeking shelter elsewhere. We are waiting out it. If a tree comes down we can deal with it. I am not evacuating. We have grown accustomed to handlings these kinds of things. We have backup supplies, the food we need, water and so on.”
Not so with a Bajan in North Port in Central Florida. The employee of a mortuary who deals with death every day was quoted by friends as saying he might move his family into the morgue which he described as one of the most secure places there.
Mayers, Barbados’ CG for several southern states – Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South and North Carolina and Texas – said from his Florida home that he too wasn’t evacuating the official residence having secured and was now praying for the best.
“Our staff at the Consulate-General is prepared, knowing that there is little if anything more that can be done,” Mayers said. “People have extra collected supplies and are in a state of readiness. I have been in touch with Bajans in the area and they too have gotten themselves ready for Irma, as ready as they can.”
Irma pounded Antigua & Barbuda, the twin island-state in the Leeward chain of the territories, leaving behind considerable desolation, damaging or destroying 90 per cent of the buildings on Barbuda before striking St Martin and the British and US Virgin Islands. It also slammed Cuba.
In all, 22 victims in the Caribbean have lost their lives and the estimated damage in the region is expected to surpass the billion-dollar mark.
Now, it is heading for Florida where millions of people have left their homes fearing the worst.
“I have decided to wait it out. I have been living in Florida since the 1980s and we have been through hurricanes before,” said an airline employee in Fort Lauderdale. “We have protected the glass in our home, the windows and strengthened the roof. We have gasoline, water, food, you name it. I really don’t think we can do anything more but continue to pray.” (TB)
