Hurricane Lenny

In March 2018 some large waves battered Bequia, and many people claimed they were the biggest to EVER hit the island. I immediately knew that those uttering such a claim had either been born after the year 2000, were newbies to the island or had faulty memories. No-one who witnessed the havoc wreaked on Bequia by Hurricane Lenny could ever forget the size of those waves, I certainly haven’t!

Lenny started on November 8^th, 1999 when a broad band of low pressure formed in the Easter Caribbean and began to drift northwards. This system slowly organized itself with the help of warm water temperatures and a steering wind to keep it from heading north, and by November 13^th was identified as a tropical depression. By the next day it was named Tropical Storm Lenny, and soon afterwards Hurricane Lenny. This activity happened near Jamaica so we figured Bequia was safe, but when it began to hammer St.Croix on the 17^th perhaps we should have taken heed!

Lenny was no usual hurricane because it traversed the Caribbean from east to west, the opposite of typical hurricane paths. In other words, the storm traveled backwards, and battered Dominica, the French islands and St. Lucia before turning its fury on St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Hurricane Lenny was dubbed by the press as “El Zurdo”   or “Lefty” due to its unusual path, and other rude (and therefore not mentioned in this story!) names were bandied about as well. The fierce storm took us all by surprise, and the damage incurred was significant.

I was totally oblivious the morning I left to catch the 6:30 ferry. I had a doctor’s appointment on the mainland, and was getting ready to cross the channel with Rachel. My husband Nik got a call from his tug-boat as I dressed and, when the crew told him that the ramp for the barge was shifting, he warned me not to travel. If the heavy ramp was shifting it was an ominous sign, it meant that an unusually large surge was in the making. When I looked at the sea from my porch the water appeared calm, so I ignored Captain’s Nik’s advice. Bad idea, I should have listened to him!

When the Admiral ferry approached Kingstown, the passengers and crew on board were presented with a scene they’ll always remember. Monstrous waves were crashing over (and I DO mean OVER) the newly-built cruise ship facility, a facility due to be officially opened the following Monday. The powerful waves were ripping into the buildings, tearing them apart in the process.  It was quite obvious there was no way the ferry could approach the Kingtown wharf, and the captain turned and headed back across the channel to Bequia. When we rounded the point, it was equally clear that the ferry would not be able to get anywhere near the jetty at Port Elizabeth, huge 12-foot breakers were pounding the harbour we had calmly left just two hours before.

I watched in horror as the waves literally ATE the road at Hamilton, and tore into the Bequia Marina with a vengeance. How were we going to get ashore? I spoke to Nik by VHF radio, and he advised taking a water taxi to Paget Farm, in his opinion it was by far the safest way to reach land. I watched as speed-boats collected passengers from the ferry’s ramp, a treacherous procedure because the vessels were bobbing madly up and down.  The water-taxis made several repeat trips into Port Elizabeth, so I figured they knew what they were doing and decided to make a break for it. For the second time that morning I ignored my smart husband’s advice! Leaving my baker’s son (Danny was blind and therefore wouldn’t be able to time a jump from the ramp) in care of the Admiral’s crew, Rachel and I gathered our courage and took the plunge.

That speed-boat ride scared the shit out of me! I held on with white knuckles as the driver timed each wave and surfed, gliding down the crests of what seemed impossibly gigantic waves. The most frightening part was the approach to the jetty; the boat had to reverse as those on the dock grabbed passengers to safety, I had bruises under my armpits for several days afterwards but was grateful to be alive!

I hastened to the Pizzeria, where my staff stood watching the action with wide eyes. The powerful waves ripped away the fence around the sea-wall steps, and I knew that the walkway would no longer exist. The surge was throwing massive amounts of coral onto my garden, and I figured the garden was history as well. Thankfully, the waves didn’t reach the dining room but the spray certainly did, and I ordered the staff to close the restaurant, we would obviously not be serving any pizzas that day.

When the hurricane passed and the sea had calmed down, I witnessed with dismay the extent of the coastal damage. The Pizzeria itself was intact, but the garden was buried by four feet of debris from the sea and would never be the same. My neighbour Rita gave me an almond tree twig, a twig which amazingly grew into a lovely tree that stands in the front yard to this day. It took 2 days to remove the coral from in front of the Pizzeria, much longer to patch the walkway. The Old Fig Tree was badly undermined, and the Green Boley bar, Gingerbread complex, Whaleboner and Frangipani were a mess.

Lower Bay Beach was the real shocker, a great deal of the sand had disappeared and been thrown into Port Elizabeth. Nik used the Sandpit’s loaders and, with the help of his crew and Kelly Glass’s trucks, spent days replacing the beach bucket by bucket. Nik also helped replace fallen palm trees, trees that had been uprooted by the storm and left strewn across the road. De Reef restaurant and bar had come close to losing part of its dining room, and had to undergo extensive repairs before it could re-open for the season. Hurricane Lenny was a major disaster, and the road to recovery long. So, for those who claim the waves in March 2018 were the biggest ever?  Believe me, you ain’t seen nothing yet!