MY FIRST HURRICANE EXPERIENCE
HURRICANE Beryl
My First Experience with Hurricane Beryl
Days before the storm hit, there was a calm silence all around, like the calm before the storm, as they say. It was a really foreboding feeling. As night came, it was calm — cold yet warm — with no breeze and no roosters crowing. By three in the morning, everything was still.
The day before the hurricane, everything was normal: no rain, no breeze, nothing. But the place was really hot for the entire day. That evening, after I came home from work early, I decided to secure my house. I buttoned up my windows, secured the door, and stocked up on a lot of food. I was home with my mom; my brother decided to stay at work as they were offering some extra cash. I also got the offer, but I decided to stay home with my mom. I thought of him leaving as selfish and cowardly, but then again, my intrusive thoughts were saying that at least if our roof blew off, he could fix it with that extra cash.
The Day of the Hurricane
At 6:00 in the morning, the rain came in tiny droplets, on and off, with no wind. Then there was heat followed by a chilly feeling. I was like, “Damn, I didn’t know such things could happen just because of a hurricane.” How the temperature rose and fell in real-time was crazy. After around 12:00, everything started to get more violent. The rain came in heavily, then stopped. There was nothing until a breeze came down from the mountains. You could see with your eyes how the trees bent and twisted right through. Once it hit the flatlands, it was a disaster.
Wait, you’re probably wondering why I was outside or how I was seeing all of this. Well, to be honest, our neighbors were out on their verandah, and everyone was watching just in case something horrible happened. I know it sounds dumb, but we preferred to see the danger and evade it rather than sit tight and wait for it to hit. In any case, the rain came with the wind, and trees began to root up from the ground like an excavator dug them up. Even my neighbor’s rooftop was blown off.
At that moment, it was like a monster roaring at us, parting the trees and staring us down. We were at the mercy of one of God’s most powerful weapons — nature. It was frightening. My mom also saw it, thinking it was the end; at least, that’s how it looked on her face. By that time, we had closed the doors and everything, looking out the window. She held onto me tightly. I knew she was afraid; hell, I was impressed by how powerful the winds could get but also afraid of what might happen to our house and us if things turned worse.
We waited, prayed, and waited for the eye of the storm to pass over, and it did. By nightfall, we didn’t sleep; we just waited. By 4 in the morning, it was calm again as if nothing had happened. But when the sun rose, it was like a battle had taken place — like one of those historical epics of heroes or a story of gods or monsters fighting. The scene was devastating. It took weeks before we got water or electricity. It was truly a disaster, but we had our lives and our house, so we were grateful. That was it, my first time experiencing the wind element of nature in its fourth form of power — pun intended.
