The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

AN Abaco family was forced to seek refuge under their bed and in a closet after Hurricane Dorian’s ferocious gusts blew the roof off their Spring City home.

Yolanda Albury, who has since been evacuated from the island, said her family didn't have any warning signs before their roof was torn off.

"We were all in the front room sitting down and the next thing we know our roof flew off, the Sheetrock started dropping on us. Me and my mom grabbed our 11-year-old niece and we ran into another room. That part of the roof blew off; we ran in the closet. Sheetrock was just dropping all over the place, so we had to run into my mom’s room," she said.

"My mom and niece went under the bed, while me and my brother stayed in the closet for two to three hours until the wind died down. After the wind died down, we ran cross by our neighbour; it was a lot of water. The experience during this hurricane was terrifying, just terrifying."

After Dorian finally passed, they were able to see the swatch of destruction the hurricane had cut across the island.

"It hurts, because when I rode through the mainland Abaco.... it really hurts to see how terrible it is with all of the people that died. In Marsh Harbour we could see houses crushing people and the clinic is a mess. Some people lost both of their legs; some people lost their lives. I just have to thank God that I’m still alive because I really thought that…the experience was hard and to know that I went through that and a lot of people didn’t I thank God," she said.

"We lost our cars, we lost our home, and the only thing we have are the clothes on our back. We lost everything; we couldn’t save anything. It’s hard, but we have to keep pushing. We can’t do anything about it, and we have to thank God for life."

Maria Rose, who stayed at Abaco Beach Resort in Marsh Harbour during the storm, also had a "very scary" experience.

Ms Rose said the roof started to come off on the fourth floor. When the eye of the storm passed, she and her children "dashed from their section of the hotel" to the Below Deck area of the hotel.

She said: "That’s when it really became scary, because the roof started to fall and the water was coming down like waterfalls. The shutters came off and wind was coming in, so they closed the drapes because people started to panic. We all ended up moving to one side of the room because we were afraid the windows were going to burst open.

"A lot of the people from a hotel nearby, Regattas, they had to swim from Regattas to get over to Abaco Beach because it was completely destroyed. Abaco does not look like Abaco no more."

Ms Rose said a lot of people didn't want to leave their homes, and as a result many of them died.

"I feel really good (to be alive), If people had listened to the warnings…a lot of persons did not wish to leave their homes and they decided to wait it out. People in the Mudd and the Peas, people died all around. We had some people who died in Murphy Town, which is my hometown, and we had some people that died from all over. They still haven’t found a lot of persons," she said.

When asked if she had lost everything, Ms Rose shook her head to say "yes", but was so overwhelmed with emotions that she broke down in tears.