As you may know we live on the beautiful island of St. Thomas- where there are sunny skies, turquoise blue water and a constant flow of Cruzan Rum. But in living here, every September there’s always the risk of a hurricane. My husband and I have been living here together for 5 years (he has been on and off island for about 12 years total), and I have never been through a hurricane. More have hit the east coast (where we moved from) than have hit us. There has been threats, and bad weather, but nothing serious. It looks like that is all about to change. Following in Harvey’s footsteps, hurricane Irma is on a path of destruction right on top of our little island.
The storm started making its presence on social media middle of last week, but I just scrolled on by (Danny keeps me up to date anyway), little did I know this was the one to watch. As an island in the middle of no where, the good thing is, most of us know what to do when a storm is coming, and even better we got ample warning. Right now, the sun is shining and we could be lounging on the beach this Labor Day weekend, instead we are putting ply wood over our windows, stocking up on diapers and water and getting prepared for A LOT of wind and rain.
When it comes to living on the island of St. Thomas, certain things are considered luxuries that aren’t in the states. Like it doesn’t take a pool or a second story for you home to be listed after, but most people would give anything for a generator and their own sistern. One reason being, our entire island is run on deisle generators, which means two things, our power bill is through the roof and the power goes out ALL the time. The biggest problem with the power going out is our water supply comes from sisterns which we can only use through water pumps. So, no power = no water. We are lucky enough to live in the BEST situation. We live in a concrete house, high on the hill so no amount of wind can blow us away and the chances of flooding are lower because we are so high up. We also have a brand new generator (that also lives in its own concrete house) so we are never without power or water (I hope!)
My husband has been through a hurricane on island before, so he knows what to expect, what to watch for and how to prepare. It’s not the storm that’s the worst of it, it’s the aftermath. So we’re doing everything in our power to put ourselves in the best situation possible, hunker down & ride it out.
Really, I have no idea what to expect, the storm could change at any second, so I’m gonna stay calm and hope for the best. I’ll probably be spending the week soaking up water and soaking up baby snuggles.
Xoxo,
Kelsey
