Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2017 | Page 28
Nisha recounts her Hurricane Irma Experience
I had dedicated myself to an all-night coverage of Hurricane Irma on radio, with my supervisor and several other staff members. Being 19, I had never experienced a category 5 hurricane on neither Anguilla, nor Dominica, where I was born. Radio Anguilla was the sole local station operating to provide Hurricane coverage, thus we became, I guess by default, one of the emergency contacts. People were tuned in to their radios to stay informed on the latest updates. At about 1:00 a.m I recall a panicked woman cal ling with regard to a sparking pole in her vicinity. No first responders were able to get to her - with a category 5 hurricane in full force, the stakes were too high. As the morning progressed so did the winds, and the emergency calls became even more intense. By 3:00 am, the pressure in the studios started to become almost unbearable. I had to keep unlocking my jaw by opening my mouth as wide as possible, just to get some relief. My ears were not the only things feeling the pressure - leaves and stones were being forced through the shutters that were rattling under the pressure of the winds. The 185mph winds were being felt even more intensely by 5:00 am. The shutters right in front of the mic and radio equipment got ripped from the window, and blew away into the parking lot, becoming a projectile. The men in the studios quickly swept into action using a large but flimsy see-through object to minimize the pressure of the windows, to prevent them from bursting. This meant however, that they had to stand in front of the window possibly sacrificing themselves while acting as a shield. After protecting the radio equipment with garbage bags we kept on broadcasting. I remember vividly trying my utmost to stay calm, and reassuring the terrified listeners that we were present with them and they should call us in case of emergencies; when they did, we would do our best to guide them. Truthfully, I was growing terrified as well, a long bang outside caused me to yelp on air - I thought a projectile had flung into the window. A local man called in utter panic. His windows were being blown away and he had a baby in the room. Upon relaying his call to the National Emergency Operations Centre, it soon became very clear to us that first responders would not be able to respond to anyone, under any circumstances! The best advice that we could give via the airwaves, were to secure themselves safely in their bathroom - truthfully, this was one of the reasons many people were able to survive Irma - being in their bathroom or tucked away under a bed, or in a closet. Cars were being swept across the parking lot, my co- worker watched even as his car got banged against another. Sometime after 6:00 am, I received a voice note from my mother, who was on duty as a nurse at the hospital. With a trembling voice she informed me that the roof of the hospital was being blown away and they were having a lot of flooding. Shortly after, the radio crashed… and there was radio silence throughout the island. Thankfully, I still had WIFI, a selfie stick, and an iPhone which I used to continue on with the broadcast. I went live on Twitter/Periscope which informed thousands of people across the world about the current situation on Anguilla.