The Storm by Maj Tom Baird (ret)

Hurricane hits in St Vincent and the Grenadines......

I AM REPOSTING THIS EMAIL I RECEIVED FROM MAJ TOM BAIRD (RET) who served in Vietnam and lives in St Vicnent and The Grenadines. You may get on his mailing list by emailing him at: cpa_air@hotmail.com

I believe this is coming to the USA and so be prepared.

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Hi,

The hurricane on 1 July 2024 was headed dead center for us on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean. I prayed to Yahuah in Yahusha to divide the storm and go around us like He has done with storms in the past. It diverted to the Grenadines Union Island instead of us, so we got greatly reduced wind speeds estimated at only 130 mph to 150 mph. (Based on an experience of being blown off my feet from a prop blast at full 235 HP as I stepped from the cockpit into the slipstream of the prop blast at full power. It lifted me into the air and threw me back into the horizontal stabilators. That power was capable of pulling the Maule M-6 through the air at 150 mph. But that is another story for another time.)

We were all unharmed, dry, and safe in our one-story, five bedroom, three bath, house in our sitting room of the house (which is sort-of an inner room). Our house has a standard roof constructed of a metal roof screwed to plywood anchored with a concrete embedded cable tied to the cement block walls.

However, our goat pen which had seven goats and 31 chickens (laying hens) inside at the time in one giant gust was lifted up like it was match sticks. You would think the wind and rain on the metal roof was loud, but the entire pen was lifted up and thrown 150 feet to land on top of our roof. THAT WAS LOUD. The sheet metal pen with its 2X2 and 4X4 inch frame flopped and banged around on the roof one third sliding and blowing  off the far end and two-thirds sliding and blowing off the near (East) end. The near end is our back porch from our bedroom. Three roofing sheets plus a 4X4 wedged against the eves and the ground held in place by the wind. They blocked any other debris from hitting our window. The initial winds were from the ENE and after the eye passed were from the SSE. The later wind shift dislodged the debris making it a stand alone shelter that the goats were able to use as a shelter from the subsequent rains while we rebuilt the pen from the other debris. The chickens were in an inner structure with its own roof that remained intact. They were all huddled in a group at the ENE corner.

All our livestock survived which included the goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and pigs. One goat had been trapped beneath and outside the pen and held under a sheet of metal roofing. Our neighbor and paid part-time helper of the livestock “just happened” to come over as the winds began to diminish and lifted the metal sheet freeing the goat. Had he not come along at that time she probably would not have lasted.

Most towns and cities on Saint Vincent had power within about eighteen hours. But we are on a ridgeline about 500 feet from the nearest village, Victoria Village. We are connected to a different electric line up in the hills and ridge line. We were without power and the internet. I have always used both electricity and the internet to work on the computer and to communicate, so did not carry data on my phone. Thus, for six days I got to relive my childhood when we had neither electricity nor internet. It was a good time with our five foster children, our three grandchildren (who arrived on 4 July), each another, and Yahusha. Of the foster children and grandchildren three are in diapers, two are five, one is nine, and the other two are 10 and 14.

With the power gone so too was refrigeration and freezers. After three days the fridge was ambient temperature so Arlene cooked up all things perishable. We are eating well with our lettuce, vegetables (Arlene harvested these before the storm),  and the cooked food. The mayo and other condiments we carried down to our old house (it had power within 18 hours) where we had a working fridge and freezer. Our number three son, Aron, lives there so everything is kept in working order.

Laundry was another challenge. Lots of kids. Lots of clothes. No power. No wonderful washing aid. But, Arlene still hand washes some clothes. She gets them cleaner then the machine.  That still is a lot of clothes to do by hand. She did it with the swiftness almost as fast as the machine.  

Another blessing was that we always had potable water from the water main. (It still was and is its spastic infrequent availability, but still is available on a daily basis even if it is about 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM, 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM, and sometimes 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM) (We always have four three-gal buckets and two to three five-gal buckets for our needs of cooking, drinking, and bathing (and now laundry) plus one 50-gal barrel and a 500-gal rainwater barrel collected from the roof for the livestock.)

Another challenge was warming up 6 oz of water for baby formula for three babies still using formula for primary food or as a supplement. No microwave. So I take a clean 8” frying pan (its surface takes only seconds to heat), heat to touch, pour into clean six inch bowl (my diminished eyesight cannot hit the small top of the bottle or cup with an 8” frying pan and the tea pot is full of tea for older children or adults thus the use of the frying pan), pour into large cup, add formula and mix well with swisher, and pour into baby bottle or cup.

I have just been called to a meal of 2” thick 6” X 6” pie wedge of pan bread called “a pan bake” (an alternate form of homemade bread), sliced in the middle, and spread with fresh homemade guava jelly for Sunday morning breakfast all made by my wonderful helpmate Arlene.

Our Father in Heaven and His Son Yahusha provides wonderfully and abundantly!!!

Love and Thankfulness,

Thomas and Arlene Baird