Fred Abraham: "Hurricane David was a baby boy…Hurricane Maria was a huge man"

Fred Abraham lives in a house built on the edge of the highway that joins Fond Cole to Roseau, at 46 Goodwill Road. He lives there with his wife and during Hurricane Maria on September 18, 2018 he was joined by some of his grandchildren and children. On that fateful night of 18 September 2017, there were seven people in the house.

That night Abraham and his family were home watching television and monitoring the progress of the impending storm,

"We were in the downstairs part of the building which we call the den since it was regarded as a safe place because it was the rescue spot for us and many villagers during the passage of Hurricane David in 1979," Abraham said.

He said he was watching water flowing into the house and so he decided that they should go upstairs.

"In so doing we saw water coming in and realized that the roof was caving in since part of it had already gone. So we went back downstairs and decided that we had to get out. So we opened the door but we were trapped and could only go as far as the yard," he said.

Abraham said there was a "mountain of debris" which was piled up in his yard and that prevented them from opening the door and getting out. Quick thinking, he said, saved them.

"We had a small storeroom which was packed with items and we had to clear it out to enable us to take refuge in that area…it was frightening and the water was rising," he said.

"Later when we thought it was safe, we moved from the storeroom and went back to the downstairs of the house where we spent the rest of the storm. But I can tell you that this experience was terrible and frightening," he said.

"When daylight came we had to call on persons nearby to burst open the door for us to get out since the amount of wood and other debris which was piled outside made it impossible for us to get out…it was just terrible I don't want to go through than experience again."

Comparing Hurricanes Maria and David of 1979, Abraham said: "Hurricane David was a baby boy and Hurricane Maria was a huge man.

"I don't want to experience another storm like Hurricane Maria again. I have never seen water like that and wood… in fact doing the passage of Tropical Storm Ericka, the Roseau River burst its banks and reached in our area but that was cleared quickly but for Hurricane Maria it took us days. I am still clearing and just recently was able to repair my roof," he said.

Abraham said that just the thought of another hurricane brings "fear and fright" in the people's minds.

"God watched us and saved us and I say praise be God," he said