Beryl has just hit Barbados. Initially announced as a Category 4, the hurricane fortunately lost some strength before making landfall. Houses flooded, trees toppled, roofs torn off, roads smashed, cars and water tanks blown away, sailing boats set adrift as far as Martinique... Saddest of all were the numerous fishing boats destroyed by the hurricane, and the Oistins fish market which was badly damaged.
Despite this, the people of Barbados, always positive, consider themselves lucky. They know they've escaped the worst, especially compared to neighbouring islands: there's almost nothing left of Carriacou, a small island of Grenada, and Union, one of the smallest of the Grenadine Islands. My thoughts are with my many friends in Barbados. I won't forget their concern in 2017, when tropical storms Harvey, Irma and Maria passed over Barbados before turning into hurricanes that devastated the islands of Saint-Martin, Sainte-Barth and Dominica. Aware that this was all new to me, they all called on me to bring a solar lamp, a battery-powered radio, emergency phone batteries, advice on how to store bottles of water, candles, canned goods that didn't need heating. And, of course, the offer to stay with them while the storm passed. For me, this first experience of extreme weather was also the discovery of the solidarity that Barbadian people know how to show so well.
Author: Jihane Sfeir
English Translation by Joy Lewis (https://www.aaatranslationservicesbb.com/en/