Powerful Storms

I have heard from family and friends that it is VERY hot in the north east - hotter than Haiti. Our weather has been hot and humid, but not unbearable by any means.  I would much rather be here in this weather than in NYC right now.  Anyway, Monday night we had a storm hit Corail that came out of nowhere.  It was sunny, and then all of a sudden the temperature dropped and the sky became dark.  It started pouring and the force of the wind was extraordinary.  The rain was coming in horizontally because the wind was so strong.  I was at the house during the storm, and there was no damage that I could see in Corail, but Port au Prince was hit harder - in fact the storm that we got Monday afternoon came from PaP.  Pierre heard that electrical lines were down, trees were down, and people died.  The force of the storm's winds in PaP was very strong and the storm caused some damage.  Of course it did - the amount of people squeezed into PaP, with the living conditions that most of them have (tents made of sticks, mud, tarp), makes life very fragile.  

Tuesday night, we had another storm in Corail - but I don't think it was strong at all in PaP.  I was at Hope on a String for a 5 pm staff meeting.  There was a children's flute class ending and two adult classes that were supposed to end around 5 pm.  Again, the sky turned dark and the storm hit.  These winds were stronger than Monday night's. Students from the class, who were still at the Center, ran into the office for coverage.  We were all huddled inside, and we were fine.  Looking out onto the storm was amazing - the rain just screamed down on us, and the wind was intense.  We called Pierre, who was at the house, to tell him that we were fine, and he said that the coconut tree that is in our yard, and has been for decades and decades and decades - for longer than Pierre has been alive - cracked in half.  Its top half fell over the security wall we have around the house, broke the light that is above the gate, flew into the street, and then fell back into the wall - leaving a small crack running up it.  After the storm ended, around 6 pm, Pierre had to have people outside of the house gates come to cut the tree and move it from the gate.  When I came back to the house, I saw the trunk - it was huge!

Coconut Tree in our yard

Look closely to see where the coconut tree snapped in half.  The area of sky that you can see now used to be covered with the top part of the coconut tree.  Now, there is nothing!

Here is the top half of the coconut tree that snapped off and flew into the road.  It is about 8 feet long.  The top part, with the leaves and the coconuts was chopped off, so you can't see that part.