My niece, Underwater Ballerina, left the Carribbean island where she’s working during Hurricane Dean. Turns out the island was spared the wrath of Dean and UB is back on the island affter two days in Ft. Lauderdale. On her blog she writes eloquently of the experience. Read what happened on the island…

I’ll admit there’s a voice in the back of my head saying that I’m a quitter, that I cut and run, that all my friends are still stuck on the island, and that it’s not fair that I left. Still, the island is about to be wiped off the map. I downplayed the seriousness of the storm in my assorted emails and posts, but Arrecife is in for some big trouble. The island rode out Hurricane Ivan, a similar storm, three years ago, and damage is still evident all over the island.

As I was driving through the empty streets last night on my way to the Bypass, I saw plywood and hurricane shutters over stores and houses that stood next to other buildings still with holes in their roofs or only partially rebuilt from Ivan. Arrecife is mostly below sea level. The storm surge from Hurricane Ivan was 8 feet in some parts of the island; a foot of water in the ground floor of your house was considered “minimal damage”. While many people learned their lessons about complacency from that storm, there is still only so much you can do when a Category 5 storm is bearing down on you.

Had I stayed, I would have been safe in the Winchester-Swann’s ballroom, but utilities will not be back up for days after the storm passes, if not a few weeks. Most employees will be sent home as soon as the airport is functional again, as conditions will be unsanitary, looting will be rampant, curfews will be set, and the air will be full of mosquitoes and the smell of effluent and dead fish. Despite all of that, part of me wishes I had stayed. Could I have done something to help? Are my friends going to be okay? When will I be able to get back onto the island? What will be left when I do return? For now, though, all I can do is watch and wait as the little swirly mass of clouds on satellite photos inches closer and closer… Stay safe, Arrecife.