uploading is extremely slow at the moment so I will be adding photos whenever I am able to
this was the scene early Saturday morning
this amount of water is the most I have ever seen in the fourteen years I have lived here.
the tree that downed the telephone line
Last week Friday and Saturday, tropical storm Tomas passed to the south of Barbados. We were given warning just as the storm started to affect the island on Friday around 2.00pm. As a daughter of a former Meteorologist, I find it hard to believe that our Met office missed this one. They claimed that it developed very quickly. Many of us were watching this system days ahead and thought that it looked enormous and was well defined. Well as it turned out Tomas' path was a destructive one. We were affected by the outer bands of Tomas. Luckily for us we were out of power for 10 hours even though a tree had fallen on the power lines and my line is very close to the ground at the back of the house. The phone line was broken by another tree. The garden suffered very little damage,with two down trees (all pink cassias) and some broken branches. Surprisingly the shade house is still standing with very little damage to the netting. I had reordered a replacement last month and it is here waiting to be installed whenever the clean up is completed. I am using the computer of a friend, who has kindly loaned me her laptop with a wireless connection. The storm was scary for me, we had some rain coming through broken panes that were there before. The sound of the wind was eerie, you should have seen Lauren, (my daughter) and myself trying to secure her bedroom when a shutter blew off.
Looking back it was hilarious but during the time it was frightening. My 250+ year old house passed with flying colours. Many homes around the island suffered damages, many roofs were blown off and some houses totally collapsed. Luckily there were no loss of life here but it was very damaging to the neighbouring islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia.
Last week Friday and Saturday, tropical storm Tomas passed to the south of Barbados. We were given warning just as the storm started to affect the island on Friday around 2.00pm. As a daughter of a former Meteorologist, I find it hard to believe that our Met office missed this one. They claimed that it developed very quickly. Many of us were watching this system days ahead and thought that it looked enormous and was well defined. Well as it turned out Tomas' path was a destructive one. We were affected by the outer bands of Tomas. Luckily for us we were out of power for 10 hours even though a tree had fallen on the power lines and my line is very close to the ground at the back of the house. The phone line was broken by another tree. The garden suffered very little damage,with two down trees (all pink cassias) and some broken branches. Surprisingly the shade house is still standing with very little damage to the netting. I had reordered a replacement last month and it is here waiting to be installed whenever the clean up is completed. I am using the computer of a friend, who has kindly loaned me her laptop with a wireless connection. The storm was scary for me, we had some rain coming through broken panes that were there before. The sound of the wind was eerie, you should have seen Lauren, (my daughter) and myself trying to secure her bedroom when a shutter blew off.
Looking back it was hilarious but during the time it was frightening. My 250+ year old house passed with flying colours. Many homes around the island suffered damages, many roofs were blown off and some houses totally collapsed. Luckily there were no loss of life here but it was very damaging to the neighbouring islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia.
I'm glad you, yours and your home survived. A 250 yr. old home has been through a lot.
ReplyDeleteHurricanes are scary to go through, no matter what their size. We've been through three, Frances and Jeanne (2004) and Wilma (2005), and Wilma was the worst, the eye went right over us. 110 mph sustained winds and I was freaked out. We ended up without power for 13 days, some people were without a lot longer. There certainly was a mess to clean up too all over the state.
Enjoy your lovely gardens after the storm.
FlowerLady
Phew! What a scary experience, Helen. Lucky that your shade house is undamaged. THey knew how to construct houses 250 years ago! Have a peaceful weekend!
ReplyDeleteOh Helen, i am happy you are fine. The photos are so common also here, and in fact we've just been thru that. Floods are still there in the north part of the country, and other areas have land slides. Storms or what we call typhoons are already parts of our lives but they seem getting stronger these days. The last one we had was signal #3, when what we have in our normal scales is only up to signal #3! It's nice you are very privileged in that part of the world and your life and properties are safe. God bless.
ReplyDeleteSo very very glad you and yours have come through the storm in one piece. Your pictures are alarming, broken trees and plants, deep water. Your house must be built like a fort to not suffer any real damage. Please keep us posted. Take care...
ReplyDeleteWe've heard of the hurricane Tomas did a lot of damage near your place, luckily for you n your house it was not so bad. We're also experiencing bad weather on northern and eastern sides of Malaysia with a small twister making headlines and the worst floodings in years!I can imagine it was a scary experience with hurricanes at your place by watching NatGeo!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you, your family and your home is ok but so sorry to hear about the destruction that Tomas is doing in the area. We are having the monsoon season now in Malaysia.
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