When the river behind her home began to rise and the wind peeled away the roof above her kitchen, Tasheva Hinds knew it was time to run.
The mother of four was at home in River Lane with her family of seven – including a five-month-old baby girl, sons aged nine, 14 and 17, her 12-year-old nephew, and her partner – when Hurricane Melissa tore through St Ann.
“The first reason why I ran out was the river, because it came all the way up,” she told Barbados TODAY on Sunday.
“Then the bathroom and kitchen roof lift off, then the kids’ room just blew right off, and the water was coming in from all the zinc that was missing.”
She said they rushed out into heavy rain and strong winds, heading for the nearby police station, after which an officer assisted the family to reach a shelter.
“It was rough because the rain was dewing at the moment, so I had to wrap up the baby. The wind blew away the umbrella… it was rough,” Hinds recalled.
“I got scared, to be honest. All the trees were coming down and the big trees were coming down the river… the water rising and all of that.”
The river, just a stone’s throw away from her modest home, was a clear, calm flow, a stark contrast to what Hinds described on the day in question.
Days later, Hinds, cleaving to her baby, still looked shaken as she pointed to the scattered remains of her home.
“I know I have to start getting things back together but it could have been worse,” she said, noting she was counting her blessings.
A few houses away, Tina Wilson was also fighting to save her family. She had been cooking dinner when the storm struck.
“Mi did a cook, then mi see one of the housetop lift off first, so mi tell me daughter to run to rescue with the baby,” she recalled. “Mi stay back fi save wah mi coulda save. Then mi see the house just start fly east and north.”
Wilson shared that she then joined her one-year-old and four-year-old grandchildren, and their parents in a nearby unfinished concrete house owned by a friend. Moments later, a large tree crashed onto the other house they lived in.
“We did wet, cold… disaster,” she said. “But mi know mi save mi grandpickney dem and mi children, so wah to do? Better life than material. We have life, we have hope.”
The family lost almost everything.
Like many others in River Lane, both women are now trying to piece together what’s left, sweeping debris from floors, salvaging clothing and burning destroyed furniture.
“We just had to fling away most things because the house come down flat, flat,” Wilson said. “If we could get back zinc and ply to patch up something so the kids have somewhere to stay, we satisfy.”
(SM)
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