Okay I'm freaking out. Not for me, but for others. Sorry to Livejournal you all here but it's 1.20am and I have no one to talk to so you're all I've got.
The government just pushed out an advisory saying we're looking at a potential eyewall hit and a storm surge of 20 feet. I had missed the 11pm NHC advisory but it's looking very possible now. The message says that anyone on an elevation of below 20 feet is being advised to leave. We are a flat limestone island - not your typical caribbean island with hills and mountains. That's 30% of our land, pretty much, maybe more. What's more, the tropical storm winds were due to arrive at 2pm and the hurricane at 8pm. Now they're saying maybe 11am and 5pm. The morning we all thought we had to get in place is gone. It's coming at us faster than we imagined.
So here's the situation. Because this is holiday season, all four of the bosses of my company are abroad. They didn't evacuate, this just happened while they were all away. So we have no one senior left on island. There is no one to coordinate, no one to control this.
We have 22 staff here (I may be 1 off, but say 22). Let's look at facts: I know for a fact that many live in Blue Hills and the Bight - both of which are at sea level and prone to flooding during normal rain. I know for a fact that the islands that have taken eyewall hits from this storm, Irma, have suffered between 80% and 90% destruction of buildings. I also know that we're a much younger island with better building codes, but this is something I can't rely on on a per-building basis. I know for a fact that my best friend in the office, a mother of three small children, said that she lives on the beach in Blue Hills and was extremely concerned if the eye was to come within 30 miles of us that her house would be destroyed and they could be badly harmed or worse. It's gonna be a lot closer than that.
This is what I know. What I'm lying here thinking about is what I do about it. Everyone seems to think we just bunker up and that's it, the chips fall where they may, but I can't accept that. There is still a bit of time. What are the options? If I wanted to help these people - my friends and colleagues - how could I go about it?
I reckon I have the following options open to me in a tiny, tiny window tomorrow morning:
-Call every one of the staff. Explain the situation. Get them to explain where they live, what the building is made of, what elevation it is, how far from the sea it is and whether it's two floors or not.
-Decide whether they need to be evacuated and tell them so.
-See what they say - I imagine most of the older island women will be stubborn about this, or may say that there's no time.
-But WHERE do I tell them to go?
Options here:
-Go to hurricane shelter - I have no idea what the standard of these shelters is and they may already be full
-Evacuate to our office - there's no water but they could bring some. Our office is a good building. I'm leaning towards evacuating the entire staff to our office tomorrow. I'm just another employee but someone needs to do something and this would be something.
-Break into a hotel, steal a bunch of keys and use the vacant rooms. The damage would be hidden by the hurricane, and I can't think of a jury in the entire world that would convict me of this crime. This is a very strong option, I feel, though it feels bizarre to be in a situation where for the first time in my life I may have to blatantly break the law. This will require calling contacts at hotels, asking when their last security check is, if anyone is on the premises during the storm and so on and so forth. I have a hammer to try and break into a reception area if needs be. A friend has a drill.
Having thought through it I've settled down a bit. I have to do one of these things tomorrow imo. But I don't know if I actually will... I just don't know. Is there time? Will people even want to go?
I'm going to stay up for the 2am advisory and hope it brings better news. I need sleep but I'm joking myself if I think I'm going to get any.
