Thursday, October 16, 2008

Hurricane OMAR

Hurricane OMAR formed in the Eastern Caribbean on Tuesday....just off Curaçao!! This most have been a first...It caused widespread damage along the beaches. High winds and torrential rains kept the island on a state of alert until today. It has been a couple of very active years for hurricanes, but what is more worrisome is that they are getting closer.... It used to be that Curaçao was way outside the hurricane belt. Even when storms came close, the damage was never as bad as in other islands. This has changed lately. As I said before, whoever is in charge...STOP IT!

I have been in touch with friends back home. The pictures are scary. My friend Vicki sent pictures of the storm today...she hosted our bridge morning today and everyone had to help keeping the water out of her house. The winds were so strong the water was seeping under the doors! They had to use towels to stop the water!!! It even came through the closed windows in the dinning room. A old satellite dish fell in the pool. It was empty, but the rains filled it overnight. What is this? It hardly seems like the Curaçao I remember.

Monique sent pictures taken along the area where I used to walk...couldn't believe the damage. Then there are the beaches, not one escaped unscathed. Something similar happened when LENNY came calling years ago, and it took years to repair them. This time it will be worse, some of them are unrecognizable. How sad!

Considering the state of the world's economy, the fact that people are guarding their pocketbooks and vacations are not going to be priority, this could not have come at a worse time. I only hope that this is the last of the big storms of this year....fifteen is quite enough!

2 comments:

Pratishtha Durga said...

Merc, that sounds so scray. I will pray that this indeed is the last of the big storms...

Mercedes de Marchena said...

Thanks, Prati!! I tell you...it is rare in our area...but things have changed so much, with global warming.....