Jamaica
One Day Of Rain
It was summer time in the Caribbean and Hank was loving it. Summer was his favourite time of the year. He loved everything thing about it, the beaches, the weather, the parties, hanging out with friends but this summer was going to be one he would never forget. There had been an ongoing drought in Jamaica for two months. The drought definitely took a toll on the citizens of Jamaica as there wasn’t enough water for everyone to survive. There had been so many incidents of persons dying of dehydration and the government did know what to do about it. In the first month over 30 persons died and the numbers kept on rising as the weeks passed. They prayed and prayed for rain but none came.
One day he and his friends all planned to go to a nearby beach to hang out. They decided that it was summer and despite what was currently happening they wanted to go out and have fun. They had no idea what was in store for them that day. The view was beautiful today. The sky was a beautiful blue hue and all the birds came out to dance and play. The sun was also present in this affair. The sea was calm and inviting. The sand was soft and golden and parted with each footstep. It was all set to be a great day to be at the beach and everything was just right.
They finally found a spot to lay down their things. Their igloo was filled will beer and liquor and they also brought sandwiches and snacks too. It was typical for Hank and his friends to not want to leave the beach but they all noticed a change in the weather. The sea started to get rough, so rough that it literally felt like it was pulling you under. Hank and his friends struggled to get out of the water.
“Hank, where is Jack?” Chris called out.
Hank turned to find his friend Jack was missing. “He was just right there. Jack! Jack where are you?”
It took them 20 minutes of searching to realise Jack wasn’t going to come back. They started to make their way to the shore. They started to pack up their stuff, tears pouring from their eyes. If only Hank knew what the outcome of today’s event would be he would have stayed home.
As if nature was reflecting Hank’s mood the cloud got dark and full as if it was ready to burst. The thunder roared across the sky and shook the earth. No doubt they were all scared and as soon as the thunder stopped they ran to the car. A bolt of lightning danced it’s way across the sky and light up the now dark sky. It was all so gloomy and scary at the same time. Hank could barely hear the car start with all the noise the thunder made above the roof of the car. Suddenly, a drop of rain, then two, then three. Rain came to save the day.
Life Story
Life Story
Where I come from is a small yet beautiful island in the Caribbean called Jamaica. On average we have about 2,909,714 people that lives in the island so it’s really small. We have a lot of trees and mountains where I live. Being an island in the tropical region we don’t get snow or snow storms, tornados, volcanos erupting, tsunamis and avalanches, our natural disasters are hurricanes and earthquakes.
It was in the year 2004 and we were in the tropical tycoon season otherwise known as a hurricane seasons. Our little island is I quite used to these hurricanes we have about two every year but before 2004 we only had one major hurricane called Hurricane Gilbert that did major damage to the island.
We were in the month of September in the year 2004 and everything seemed fine. We were in the hurricane season that runs from June to November of every year. Since the beginning of the hurricane season that year all the hurricanes we had were very mild and just a mere rainfall for a period of three days so whenever we would get a hurricane alert none of us took it seriously. I remember hearing over the radio that another hurricane was on its way and thinking to myself that it would be over before we knew it. “That’s another baby hurricane “people would say after hearing the news of hurricane Ivan approaching. A lot of persons in the country failed to take it seriously.
On the 2th of September 20004 the government of the country issued a hurricane watch alert. Hurricane Ivan was fast approaching and it was getting powerful and powerful. Only a couple of hours had passed and it was turned from a hurricane watch to a hurricane warning! Hurricane Ivan had reach category 5! Hurricanes go through various stages. Category one being the weakest hurricane and category five being strongest. This was the strongest hurricane there is. With winds greater than 155 mph or 135 kts Hurricane Ivan changed Jamaica. The hurricane came in the middle of the night, it was dark and you could hear the winds howling and the heavy rain beating against the window. The thunder was the loudest it’s ever been and it seemed as if it could crack the house in two. Outside you could hear branches snapping due to the powerful force of the wind and tree trunks falling to the ground.
It only lasted a couple of hours but the damage was so great. It left 18,000 people homeless and an estimated 17 people on the island were killed by Ivan. Trees, shrubs, street lights and all signs blown down; roofs of buildings were either damaged or blown off; windows and doors of houses and buildings were damaged or shattered; Landslides crushed houses and flooding damages furniture and houses. The river height increased in some areas, for some places they were totally cut off from the rest of the country because the bridge that they would use for commuting was destroyed. It was one of the worst hurricane that out country has ever had. Some persons are still trying to recover losses from that hurricane.