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1995 --The Year In Review
The Year That Showed Us the Other Side of Paradise
[We continue to carry this article from one of our past Annual Reports because 1995 represents such a strong break in the development history of the small islands of the Eastern Caribbean. This break stems from the impact of several severe hurricanes--- this trend continues with increased regional hurricane frequency, including new word in late 1999 that insurance agencies are starting to cancel ALL hurricane coverage.]
"Inhabitants of the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean, beware: this hurricane season is shaping up as one of the most active in the last two decades."
So cautioned an article in the New York Times in late June of this year [1995]. Five months later, after what would go down in the record books as the second most active season ever, this early warning from weather experts proved to be all too chillingly accurate.
Here's a terrific map of the hurricane tracks from 1995 that gives a clearer picture how concentrated the hurricane tracks were during the season.
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This lime tree was one of the few casualties of Hurricane Marilyn at Island Resources office in St. Thomas. |
A combination of atmospheric and oceanic forces made the 1995 crop of tropical storms and hurricanes more frequent and intense than they have averaged since the beginning of this century. Whatever the reason, the residents of the Caribbean -- particularly the northeastern Caribbean -- have cause enough to remember the 1995 hurricane season, after taking a battering from three successive major storms -- Iris, Luis and Marilyn -- during a three week period in late August to mid September. Hardest hit were the islands of St. Thomas, Antigua and Dutch St. Maarten. Island Resources Foundation maintains facilities in two of the three islands.
The Foundation's offices in Antigua and St. Thomas sustained damage to equipment and losses in the library collection. Overall, however, our physical damage and injury were less severe than the massive destruction apparent throughout Antigua following hurricane Luis and St. Thomas following hurricane Marilyn. For this, the Foundation is very thankful.
In the initial weeks following the storms, both offices functioned on generator power, and while electricity and intermittent telephone service were restored to the Foundation's offices by mid-November, in St. Thomas three-quarters of the island's telephones were still not in service and only about a quarter of the island had electricity. Full telephone service in St. Thomas is not expected until March of next year; full electrical capacity is not anticipated until early 1996.
[See Charles Consolvo's Letter to the Editor of the Virgin Islands Daily News.]
The statistics can be overwhelming. As reported in a recent issue of Caribbean Week , the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands estimates storm-related damage at US$3 billion. Hundreds of people (out of a total population in St. Thomas of less than 50,000) remain homeless, months after the storm. Over 2.7 million square feet of blue plastic roof sheeting cover some 3,600 buildings and homes in St. Thomas. Only a few smaller cruise ships have returned to Charlotte Amalie, the once bustling hub of Caribbean cruise ship traffic, and many of the island's largest resort hotels do not expect to reopen until the spring of 1996, with devastating consequences for this tourism-driven economy.
And what of the natural environment? Island Resources Research Associate, Dr. Caroline Rogers (Research Director for the National Biological Service stationed at the V.I. National Park in St. John) reports that she and colleagues found coral colonies at Lameshur Bay on the south side of the island smashed and overturned to depths of almost 50 feet after Marilyn. Park scientists estimate that the amount of living coral at this site had not yet returned to pre-hurricane Hugo (1989) levels when Marilyn struck. And because corals grow very slowly, it will probably take several decades for this reef to recover. Additionally, Rogers noted that in areas like Leinster Bay where boats broke loose and went up on shore, more damage was caused by the boats than by the storm itself.
Following Hurricane Hugo, a fierce Category 4 storm which roared through the Eastern Caribbean in 1989, Island Resources Foundation carried out an assessment of coastal environmental damage in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As part of the government's post-Hugo recovery strategy, the Foundation evaluated over 50 hurricane-damaged coastal sites and designed monitoring and impact mitigation plans for sites identified as "priority" areas. A territory-wide plan for further reducing damage in future natural disasters through public-sector acquisition of hazard-prone and environmentally sensitive areas was also developed, but never officially adopted by the Virgin Islands Government. Thus, the lessons of Hugo had minimal effect on altering the reality of Marilyn.
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This dock in Vessup Bay just behind the Island Resources office was heavily damaged by the Hurricane--Austin Gumbs fixed it. |
The early months of 1996 will be a critical period for the islands impacted by the storms of '95. Island Resources Foundation took tentative steps to solicit donor community support for a post-Luis and Marilyn environmental recovery initiative in those Eastern Caribbean islands most affected. Unfortunately, the temporary displacement of IRF personnel following the storms and the demands of our own immediate site recovery left both the St. Thomas and Antigua offices less than fully operational for many weeks after the storm.
But it is not too late to assess long-term effects and design an intervention strategy to accelerate recovery. To this end, the Foundation invites donors, regional institutions, Caribbean governments and NGOs interested in helping to design and promote such an initiative to contact IRF's president, Dr. Edward Towle, in St. Thomas. As Dr. Towle recently noted:
M any of the longer-term effects of the 1995 hurricanes -- like Hugo in 1989 --will not be the result of the initial storms (whether Luis or Marilyn), but of ill-advised actions taken in the response and recovery period following the natural disaster.
