Cyclone Evan

For those who have not heard Cyclone Evan was expected to hit the island last week as a category three storm.  Thankfully, it turned north 50 miles from the island and missed us.

School was closed for two days though to allow the students to help their families prepare.  Friday there was school, but we were released at noon because of a high surf, high gale, and flash flood warning.

The school had to be storm proofed.  On Wednesday (the day before the storm was supposed to hit) all teachers had to report to school to secure their rooms.  This meant closing all the windows, moving desks, and books to the center of the room, and cover computers/SmartBoards.

At home we made sure that we had nonperishable food and drinking water.  We made sure there were batteries in the flashlights and our computers and cell phones were charged.  We had been told that the power on the island is cut off if winds are above 60mph.  That meant our water would also be cut.  When it started raining we used our recycling bins and trashcans to collect rainwater.  This way we would be able to use it to flush.  Sara closed the windows at her house and stayed the night and mine.

The worst of the storm hit during the night on Wednesday.  We got some wind and a lot of rain, but nothing more than a usual rain storm.  It was enough to wake me up and keep me awake until it stopped.

Thursday when we got up the sun was coming out and the governor issued a statement saying the storm had turned.  I’m so thankful for all the prayers.  The storm was expected to hit us with winds of 130mph and unpredictable amounts of rainfall.

It devastated our neighbor island in of Upolu in Western Samoa.  The storm hit the island twice and caused a storm surge of 15 feet in the capital.  The international airport has not reopened yet.  Power, phones, and internet are out on most of the island and the critical patients at the hospital have been flown to Hawaii. 

Many of the businesses here and some of the homes, mostly affluent, boarded up their windows in preparation.  It is a very eerie feeling riding though a town that is boarded up.  Not as eerie as it would have been riding though a town that was hit by a category 3 cyclone would have been.

God protected us from this storm, the first named storm of the season.  It is predicted that this season will be more eventful than usual due to the warm weather we have had.  Hopefully, He does the same with the remaining storms.

Sadly though the Christmas choir that I had been practicing in was suppose to perform on Wednesday.  The concert was cancelled because of the storm.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to sing the Samoan songs that I learned. L