The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

WITH his fiancée and one-year-old child lying on a bed as water rushed into his home, Theo Armbrister looked out through his window and saw the surge from Hurricane Matthew wash two large boats within several feet of his house.

The vessels were not his; they belonged to his neighbour.

“That’s how strong the currents were and that’s how high the water was, it moved the boats to my yard,” he told The Tribune on Friday.

Today, the presence of his neighbour’s property in his yard is the least of his worries, for next to the boats now are his furniture and appliances - everything from beds and sofas to a stove, all cast aside, all destroyed.

As some Bahamians begin to regain a sense of normalcy, Mr Armbrister’s reality exemplifies what life has been like for some residents on the southern coast of New Providence, whose homes and property were severely damaged by the storm.

“I’m a mechanic and I need money but ain’t nobody calling right now to give me work,” he said. His own car malfunctioned in the tides brought in by Matthew.

He was one of the Bahamians who failed to heed government warnings to evacuate the southern area of the island. By the time he began to fear the power of Matthew, it was too late, and he was forced to ride out the storm at home with his fiancée, Albernette Stuart, and baby.

“I saw the water reach to the headlights of my car. I said to (my family), ‘We have to pull out,’ but afterward I heard the alarm on the car went off, so I said that means the water already touch everything in the car, so we can’t move and we can’t go nowhere.”

The water tore through the defences Mr Armbrister had erected to protect his home, such as the sandbags he placed at the front door, and the back door itself, which blew open after a stray Jet Ski struck it, letting in a surge of water.

Men from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) stopped by as they conducted rescue efforts, but they did not rescue Mr Armbrister’s family, he claimed.

They returned “five hours later” after the storm ended, he told The Tribune.

The family spent three days in a hotel after the storm, consuming Mr Armbrister’s savings. They returned home last Thursday, including his stepchildren who had spent the storm with an aunt. They have all been sleeping in a car to escape the “terrible” mosquitoes, he said.

The flooding from Hurricane Matthew also left behind a terrible stench in the area. And the only way to escape the stench is to leave.

For that, Mr Armbrister is seeking help. “I’d really like to get my family in a nice place right now,” he said. “My family is helping out with food even though it’s still hectic, but I just want to get out of this area.”

Mr Armbrister regrets his failure to evacuate the area during the storm - and moving to the South Beach area in the first place.

“I wouldn’t stay here again during a storm,” he said. “I don’t even want to be here right now. I don’t want to be here anymore. This area is a flood zone. Right now everything is down to square one.”