The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS a Bahamian who has experienced the devastation of hurricanes before, Olympic triple jump bronze medallist Frank Rutherford said he has been able to cope with the catastrophe that they are now dealing with in the state of Texas from Tropical Storm Harvey over the weekend.

Rutherford, one of the many Bahamians living in the fourth largest state in America, said it’s something that he has gotten used to. “You’re coping with it, but it’s an unprecedented event,” Rutherford told The Tribune. “It’s more of a flooding episode than the media originally let it be known. The media in the United States, even though they documented it, didn’t properly tell the people about the aftermath of Harvey with the rain that has made it so incredible.

“Now I see why Noah had to build the ark. We really need one now.”

Although an order for a voluntary evacuation has been issued for Fort Bend County in Richmond where he resides with his wife Milessa and children, Jazmyn and Alexis, Rutherford said the water has risen to about 60 feet, but they are monitoring the progress before they make a determination of whether or not they will leave their home.

“So far, I have water surrounding me and it’s knocking on the door to come in,” he said. “They will come in soon.”

Rutherford is also responsible for six Bahamian athletes, including Tori Bowe, Kyle Higgs and CJ Stubbs, who are a part of his Frank Rutherford Foundation, a programme that assist young Bahamian athletes in gaining academic qualifications through college. He said they are currently in the Dickens County, Dickens where the majority of the flooding took place over the weekend, but he said they are all safe and accounted for, having moved to higher grounds.

Another Bahamian Olympian, sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie is also in Houston. The former Golden Girl is in Missouri City, the county near to where Rutherford is staying. While Ferguson-McKenzie is in her third year as an assistant coach at UH, Rutherford is also working with the coaching staff of his alma mater, headed by former American sprinter Leroy Burrell and includes legendary sprinter/jumper Carl Lewis.

They are both working as assistant coaches at the University of Houston, the alma mater of Rutherford, the first Bahamian to win a track and field medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain in 1992 after he also made history as the first Bahamian to win an IAAF World Indoor Championships with a bronze as well in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1987.

When contacted by whatsapp, Ferguson-McKenzie could only say “I am mentally drained. It’s very tragic here in Texas, but in all things we give thanks.” The 2004 Athens Olympic women’s 200m bronze medalist and member of the women’s 4 x 100m relay team that won the gold in 2000 in Sydney, Australia indicated that she was able to step outside for a bit and was stunned by what she saw.

Rutherford called it a “devastating flood. But from what I’ve heard from every Bahamian, every Bahamian is fearing very well. We’re a resilient hurricane tested people. I don’t think the water will affect us, but the people who are around you and are not used to it, will leave you in a frenzy.

“But we’re just riding it out,” he summed up.

More than 30,000 people from 50 counties have already been placed in temporary shelters in Texas due to widespread flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.