‘Almost entire island homeless’ after Hurricane Beryl

MEXICO CITY — Katrina Coy survived the night as Hurricane Beryl tore through her idyllic Union Island home with incredible force. She was shocked by the scale of the devastation that lay ahead. Virtually every building on the island, which lies off the coast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, had been flattened or severely damaged, she said. “Union Island is in a terrible state after Beryl passed. Literally, almost the entire island is homeless,” Ms. Coy said in a video message. “There are hardly any buildings left standing. Houses are destroyed, roads are blocked, power poles are down in the streets.” Fisherman and fishing guide Sebastien Sailly agreed. “Everything is lost. I have nowhere to live now,” he said. He has lived in Union since 1985 and lived through Hurricane Ivan in 2004. But Hurricane Beryl, he said, was on a whole other level. “It’s like a tornado has gone through. Ninety percent of the island – easily 90 percent – ​​has been wiped out.” The level of shock and fear is still clear in his voice. “I was sheltering with my wife and daughter and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it.” His niece, Alizee, who runs a hotel with her family, described a harrowing experience as Beryl swept through their town. She said they had to push furniture against doors and windows to stop them being blown open by the relentless wind and huge gusts. “The pressure was so intense you could feel it in your ears. We could hear the roof falling apart and hitting another building. Windows breaking, flooding.” “Nobody expected it to be this bad, everyone is traumatized.” An organic farmer and beekeeper, as well as a fisherman, Sebastien’s two farms and his beehives, have also been completely destroyed. However, he said the community’s immediate priority is shelter. People have been trying to gather wood and plastic sheeting to make some kind of temporary shelter for their families. “And of course, it will be difficult to find water and food,” he added. Alizee Sailly said there are also many other urgently needed supplies on Union Island — from canned food and powdered milk to sanitary products, first aid kits and tents. With power and communications still out, she has only been able to send messages by connecting to the Starlink network launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. For its part, the government in St. Vincent and the Grenadines says it recognizes the scale of the problem. In a morning address, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves summed up the shock in the Caribbean country: “Hurricane Beryl — this dangerous and devastating hurricane — has come and gone, leaving immense devastation in its wake. Pain and suffering in our country.” He also pledged to respond as quickly as possible to address the long list of post-hurricane priorities his administration is facing. However, on Union Island, there is still some skepticism that the government has the funds, resources and manpower to handle it. “I hope they can send us the military and the coast guard to help us. I have no idea if they can rebuild the island, but I don’t think so,” Sebastien said. “This is going to cost billions, it’s going to take a year or more, and it’s going to require international help.” Katrina Coy, executive director of the Union Island Environmental Alliance, also pleaded with members of the Caribbean diaspora to help in any way they can. “We need help urgently. Emergency supplies, food, evacuation, all that is needed right now.” For years, Ms Coy has done crucial work to ensure Union Island’s water security, a vital resource for small island communities in the Caribbean. Heartbreakingly, her international colleagues say, that work has been lost in Hurricane Beryl. Beryl made landfall on Monday as a Category 4 hurricane, packing sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph). Thousands of people are still without power, with many in temporary shelters in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and St Lucia. But despite the chaos and homelessness on every inch of the island, Sebastian Sailly said he was just grateful it wasn’t worse. “The most important thing is that we’re still alive, not the material losses.” “After witnessing the force of what we’ve been through, I was just glad to see my neighbours were still here today.” — BBC