Yikes.

That was the last text from my mom at 11:53 AM on Wednesday, September 6, when Hurricane Irma hit St. Thomas.

Kansas City might be the most landlocked city in the country, but my dad is crazy about sailboats. My parents are both certified scuba divers. They vacation in the Virgin Islands every year to get their ocean fix, and on September 6, that’s where they were. Incoming Irma cut their chartered sailboat trip short, and after a canceled flight they were stuck on St. Thomas. At a resort right on the beach. Of course.

The sailboat they chartered could very well be one of these poor guys.

I prayed for them the rest of the afternoon, after that last text. I hoped for some communication during the night. On Thursday morning I scoured the Internet for the smallest shred of information about Hurricane Irma’s impact on St. Thomas, and their resort in particular. I remember the same 3–4 articles popping up, all saying the same generic things.

My anxiety lessened somewhat when I was able to connect with someone who said the resort they were at was fine. On Twitter.

If you’ve been in this situation, you know what it means to be thankful for people with information. Thank you Twitter and helpful stranger.

I was finally able to really relax when my mom texted me (from someone else’s phone) at 9:33 AM that same morning, saying they were OK and to let everyone know.

Then nothing for 24 hours.

First World Problems

It’s 2017. Most Americans have a camera phone ready to stream video worldwide in seconds. So the complete lack of communication those 24 hours felt barbaric. St. Thomas and St. John had no power, no cell towers, no way to communicate with the outside world. AT&T is the main provider in the USVI and none of their towers were working after Hurricane Irma.

When you have no way to communicate with your loved ones, where do you go for information?

News Schmooze

I don’t watch TV. I certainly don’t watch “the news.” I never have and I stand behind my reasons for doing so (a future post, perhaps). When I need information, I consult my dear old friend, the Internet.

What kind of search results did I get during those nerve-wracking hours after Hurricane #1? OMG Hurricane Irma is heading for Florida! Florida! Florida! Florida! This was after the islands had been hit. You hope for information that pertains to you specifically; you expect information about that area, generally.

On August 25, Hurricane Harvey hit Texas with 40 inches of rain in 4 days. It was unusual and insane and all over the news, all the time.

On September 6, Hurricane Irma “caused catastrophic damage in Barbuda, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Anguilla, and the Virgin Islands” (Wikipedia) and headline titles said things like “Category 5 storm destroys Caribbean Islands.” Some of those Caribbean Islands are ours.

A (Quick) Geopolitical Lesson:

In case you missed that: the Virgin Islands are PART OF THE UNITED STATES.

From ever-helpful Wikipedia — I added the island names. The Leeward Islands (Barbuda, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Anguilla) would be down and to the right.

The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI): “consist of the main islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas, and many other surrounding minor islands.” (Wikipedia)

The British Virgin Islands (BVI): “consist of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke, along with over 50 other smaller islands and cays.” (Wikipedia)

The Spanish Virgin Islands: “Culebra and Vieques, are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.” (Wikipedia)

Oh yeah, Puerto Rico is also PART OF THE UNITED STATES.

If Texas gets coverage, if Florida gets coverage, then shouldn’t the USVI and Puerto Rico get coverage? We’re talking about US citizens. You can hop on a plane to the USVI with no passport. You could move there. Many of us have friends and family who are visiting and living there. We need to know they’re OK and how to get them help. If the purpose of the media is to educate, they’re doing a poor job of it.

I’m seeing this sentiment all over Twitter, by the way. And I’m probably the only one who never turns on a TV.

One (well-said) example of this sentiment.

Contact, Finally

My mom called Friday morning (September 8) after she was able to climb a hill and get a cell signal. The news was not good. Their resort was a good place to be, but the airport had been destroyed, food and water were low, and prospects for getting off the island were slim. I was actually more worried about them after that phone call.

There was a lot of texting, and prayers for those texts to go through over the next 24 hours. Thanks to local friends and a couple small miracles, my parents made it to a small boat delivering supplies to St. Thomas from their generous neighbors on St. Croix. On Saturday night, three incredibly long days after Irma hit, they were able to resume their vacation on St. Croix (which was mostly unscathed). They were safe. I could relax.

Hi, I’m Maria

My parents had a week of normalcy before news started coming in about Hurricane Maria. Still in St. Croix, Mom attempted to move their flight to the day before Maria was going to hit, to no avail. She asked if any flights were available and the answer was no. The night Maria hit, she found out flights had been going out all day (???)

In catastrophic situations, information is like currency. Should she have called every hour? Who found out and how? This kind of thing is maddening.

This time they were on the worst side of the storm, which had become a Category 5 insanely fast. I had a text Tuesday evening as they prepared for a long, terrifying night. I fully expected to repeat the awful waiting and searching the next day. Amazingly, cell towers were working Wednesday morning after the storm and I received a text at 6:17 AM that they were OK.

It’s now Sunday night.

If this was a normal vacation (ha!) they would be flying home Monday, September 25. That flight was canceled, since the airport will not be functional until October 5. My mom received a call today from an actual human at American Airlines, saying their flight had been moved to Friday. Did I mention the airport isn’t supposed to be functional by then?

Cell signal is iffy. They had it the first day, until some jackwagon stole the AT&T generator, which citizens replaced. For some reason it was down in St. Croix and St. Thomas most of the day today. There’s still a curfew in place, although many people seem to be ignoring it.

My parents are lucky. They’ve been going down here for years, so they’re well-connected and able to stay with friends. I should also mention that my dad’s nickname is MacGyver. They need him down there right now. I’m not worried about them making do with what they have; just about how long it takes to get them out of a deteriorating situation.

What about the average tourist who doesn’t know anyone? Where do they go to find information? How about their anxious family back in the states? Where would you look to find out if they’re OK? How to get them out?

Television channels are coming through at my parent’s friend’s house, and Weather Channel, I’ll warn you now, beware the wrath of my mother when she gets back. Evidently the prominent topic of conversation is hurricane-induced erosion on the East Coast. Never mind the millions of people with no power, running low on food and water, desperately searching for information. ERMAGHERD EROSION.

StormCarib.com

There is a most excellent weather update website run by a local guy on St. Thomas. Here’s a post from one of his writers (a meteorologist) on September 4, right before Irma:

I preface my post tonight with disappointment with TWC (The Weather Channel) for it’s lack of acknowledgment of the Caribbean as a whole and the US Virgin Islands specifically. We are a territory of the United States but don’t appear to be big enough or important enough to warrant more than passing attention. It is one of the main reasons why I wanted to write for this website because we were always being ignored and to a point still are, not to mention I love the Caribbean. I challenge them to send Jim Cantore, or Mike Seidel, both respected and awesome meteorologists, to come here and stand on Sapphire Beach when the storm comes in. Dr. Knabb come on down too. However, I suspect the real reason they don’t come here is they cannot evacuate when it hits the fan as the airport will be closed as well as the airspace. — Dave (StormCarib.com)

From the guy who runs the site, on September 7: