Pte. Michel and the scars left by Hurricane Maria

Editor’s Note: This article, first published on DNO in 2020, relives the experiences of some residents of Loubiere and Pte. Michel, two of the communities in Dominica, worst affected by the catastrophic Hurricane Maria. 

[September 18, 2020] Three years later, there are scars almost everywhere, and wounds that haven’t completely healed, but there are also signs of optimism in the Nature Isle.

Remnants of Mother Nature’s wrath are visible in every community on the island, all painful reminders of the miseries inflicted upon Dominica in 2017 by Hurricane Maria.

Dominicans had begun to breathe a sigh of relief, having been spared from Hurricane Irma and Jose just two weeks’ before but this thrill was short-lived as on September 18, 2017, the country was utterly devastated by the raging winds of this record-breaking monster storm.

Unselective in its destruction, not a single street island-wide was spared the fury of Maria, which was regarded as the worst natural disaster on record in Dominica.

In the wake of the utter destruction, the visible wreckage that the Hurricane had inflicted could be seen, and this was simply too vivid for comfort.

The southern villages of Pointe Michel and Loubiere were the hardest hit in terms of human casualties and though time may have passed, in many respects, it continues to stand still in their lingering memories of that horrible event.

According to information from the police, of the 32 people confirmed dead and the 33 missing, five of the deceased and 12 of the missing were from those communities.

Among the dead and missing are a family of nine from the Green Valley area near the Siboulie Ravine in Pte. Michel. That family’s loss encapsulates the pain and destruction that Maria unleashed on Dominica.

Dominica News Online (DNO) attempted to speak to Safiya Caprice, who lost her mother Ann Languedoc, her two children, Murray Delmore and Joyann Francis and sisters Morryann Languedoc and Nadora Williams. The hurricane also took the lives of Williams’ two children Jahilia Lawrence and Garvin Francis and her boyfriend Gershawn Baron.

“I honestly cannot relive that situation. When I try now to tell the story of what happened I get nightmares. Today (September 17) is my daughter’s birthday and tomorrow is my brother’s but we cannot celebrate and I’m trying to be strong for them,” she told us.

In an earlier interview conducted days after the Hurricane, Caprice recollected the dreaded moment when she lost her entire family.

“On Sunday morning, we heard the Prime Minister on the news talking about the storm and my mother told me it would be best if I go by my boyfriend for the hurricane as my room had a leak and would tend to flood,” she recounted.

She said the following morning, she did just that “not realizing that that would be the last time I saw my family members alive.”

Sometime after 8pm, having realized how intense the storm was, she called her mother and was comforted with the words “I’m okay.” However, Caprice said while she was advising her mother that she should relocate to somewhere else, “the call went dead,” and she would later learn from an older brother that it was at that moment the carnage occurred.

The  following morning, having left the safety of her boyfriend’s bathroom where they and their two children had ridden out the storm, Caprice remembered lying on the bed with an uneasy feeling that something was wrong.

Two hours later, that fear was confirmed when “two of my brothers came crying and they asked me if mummy there and they not seeing nobody and the house gone. I asked them how comes and I too started crying and my chest started hurting,”

Still clinging to the hope that her family was safe, and had found refuge elsewhere, Caprice dismissed that thought until a few days later, when a family friend revealed to her that her nephew Murray’s lifeless body was discovered on the seashore in the village.

Although she is certain that the other 8 suffered the same fate, three years later she is still unable to find closure as their bodies were not found.

Another Point Mitchel resident, Melvina Boyer , popularly known for her night club which once stood on the outskirts of the village, remembers the difficulties of living through Hurricane Maria and the harrowing experiences that followed.

“I am still trying to cope with things because it really wasn’t easy. I thought I was going to lose my life. Eight of us was in my house and the water started rushing in so we had to bust a window to escape and even when we went to the neighbors house things were not the best,” she explained.

Boyer’s memory of the grief which plagued the community in the aftermath of Maria and the fact that she resides near the ravine which caused most of the carnage, has left her traumatized.

“When it rains heavily, like everyone in that area, we still get afraid because we now know what that ravine is capable of doing,” she stated. “I lost my friend Edith Charles to that ravine and since then I have an uneasy feeling whenever I know it’s going to rain heavy I get an uneasy feeling.”

Though disappointed with the “little” assistance that she claims to have received, Boyer has taken her her misfortune in stride.

“I got some materials but that’s about it. I lost two of my houses and three years later I still have to pay a loan for them. It’s hard but we have to do what we have to do to make it,” she contended.

Another resident in the area shared her story of how she witnessed her home of 20 years and all its contents being swept away before her eyes.

“I really didn’t know what was left for me after my house was gone. My stuff I collected and bought for years, all my pictures and things that were passed down to me by my grandparents were all gone and all I could do was watch.”

Like many others, for her, building back seemed impossible but she said she was “lucky” to have received assistance from the government.

“Well, this is where I am and I’m happy. I know if I had to do it on my own I would not have gotten this far. I may not have all what I wanted and all what I lost but I have a roof over my head,” she pointed out.

In that community, some residents also shared fond memories of several of those who passed away, one of whom includes Royston ‘Saddiki’ Toussaint, whose body was discovered in a tree, days after the Hurricane.

Despite his mental disability, residents of that community had nothing but great things to say about him, particularly his willingness to assist.

In the neighboring community of Loubiere, the damage and the emotional distress that the river had caused is evident as parents still struggle to come to terms with the loss of their two daughters, 15-year-old Yakira Joseph and 4-year-old Destiny Joseph.

Slyvester ‘Star’ Joseph and Millia Delsol describe the night of September 18, as a “crucial one.”

“All before they saying Hurricane coming but nothing never happened on that side of the river so we decided to stay,” she revealed. “When the wind start, I watched the roof come out in less than five seconds so when I see that I take my children and girlfriend and we go downstairs.”

After just a few minutes of being downstairs and observing the water coming in, the family decided to g back upstairs. However, according to Delsol, “in coming to bring them back upstairs, a first rumble come down and that just take in front the door but I still had a space to pass them so I pass everybody to go back upstairs.”

In the process of rescuing an aunt, Joseph remembers a wall collapsing on him, which he spent minutes trying to escape from, to the point where he had almost given up.

“Once I was free I went upstairs and when I reached upstairs, my girl telling me Kia and Destiny go down the river. So I asking how that happened and she tell me is they last that was climbing the steps to go up and the steps just burst and the river go with the two children,”

Delsol says it has been difficult to move on during the last three years, as her family still resides in their dilapidated home and sourcing an income is difficult as they lost all of their craft.

“We have not received much help and having to live in the house where my daughters died this is extremely difficult because we cannot move on. We lost all our handmade carvings and things just slow.  To me things have gotten worse after Maria,” she laments.

On the third year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, DNO made several attempts to hear and share the stories of other residents affected by this disaster, but although time has passed, the pain of reliving that memory is still too much for many to bear.