In Irma-devastated US Virgin Islands, resolve blends with worry of being forgotten

LA Times via MSN.com ^ | 17 Sept 2017 | Molly Hennessy-Fiske

[blueplum]

CORAL BAY, U.S. Virgin Islands — Sharon Coldren, standing on the balcony of the Coral Bay Community Council building, raised a megaphone to give a warning to about 100 of her fellow islanders.

"There are tropical storms on the way that could become hurricanes," she said to a crowd gathered Saturday outside the town hall. Evacuate, she said. Their last chance to leave their island of St. John would probably be a free ferry the next day to San Juan, Puerto Rico...

Coldren couldn't give them any information about the latest marine weather forecasts — emergency managers were not providing them to her, and she didn't have cellphone or internet access...

...[At Cruz Bay] Military helicopters buzzed overhead, ferrying in supplies in from St. Croix. A local restaurant, the Longboard, was working with the American Red Cross to serve 1,000 meals a day. Police were enforcing a curfew from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m., the town largely dark and humming with generators.

The coming storms would delay further aid. The recovery would only be slowed if more military forces arrived now, said Clay Covel ...

[blueplum]

More news from the US Virgin Islands; stories of a couple of locals included in the article.

[blueplum]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-maria/hurricane-maria-seen-strengthening-into-major-hurricane-in-next-two-days-idUSKCN1BS0JG

[ransomnote]

It seems like survivors of Harvey and Irma “fell off the radar” really fast. I can see why some may feel forgotten.

[Does so]

As an absent and worried Florida resident, I was reminded that "Hurricane Season" ends on December 1st!

≡≡8-O

[ransomnote]

Wow! I hadn’t thought of it that way. !!!!

[PapaBear3625]

Maria is going to hit them, and center-punch Puerto Rico as of Wednesday, as a Cat 3 or higher.

[trebb]

I read the whole article and saw a lot of rehashing and personal interest anecdotes but nothing to indicate they have “dropped off the RADAR”. “Worry of being forgotten” and actually being forgotten are two very different things.

[freedumb2003]

>>It seems like survivors of Harvey and Irma “fell off the radar” really fast. I can see why some may feel forgotten.<<

Yet NOLA *still* whines about Katrina some 12 years later!

[albie]

Of course an opportunity to bash Trump/America in here. British Virgin Islands have it made while the USVI suffer and feel forgotten.

[SkyPilot]

On this episode of House Hunters International, a fun loving family search for that perfect beachfront home in St. Martin. And a retired couple hope to find paradise in their own tropical bungalow in the Dominican Republic!

You have all seen these shows. They make it all seems so alluring. Just don't be the Gringo white people in a 3rd world country or on an island when things descend into "Lord of the Flies."

[SkyPilot]

A group of looters confronted Coral Bay denizen Elliot Hooper, 64, when he tried to stop them from stealing T-shirts he had saved from the storm at his store, Tall Ship Trading. Hooper said he brandished a machete and shouted, "I've been here 30 years, and you're going to take my T-shirts?" Then he stepped on a nail, and also realized there were about 10 men in the group, some probably with guns. So he retreated to his damaged black-and-white schooner, Silver Cloud, built in 1899. He lost his business and home, neither of which were insured. He felt betrayed by the young men who stole from him.

Wise up pal. You're a white guy.