'A pile of matchsticks': Hurricane Irma hits close to home for New Brunswickers

Jon Andrews has spent the past 24 hours glued to his cellphone, checking for calls and messages on the latest storm that pummeled through his home on the island of Anguilla.

Hurricane Irma has killed at least 11 people, including one person on Anguilla, and injured dozens of others as it roared through the Caribbean.

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"You can't reach anyone so you don't know what to do," said Andrews, who lives in Moncton but shares a house with his brother on the northeast Caribbean island.

"You just have to hope and pray and wait for the news."   

His family is safe but the buildings around them have been destroyed and 90 per cent of the roads on the island are impassable, preventing his family from going in and checking on his property. 

The Category 5 hurricane is the most powerful in recorded Atlantic hurricane history.

"The whole island looked like it's been scorched," Andrews said. "No vegetation at all."

Irma tore the roof completely off his aunt's house and destroyed his cousin's restaurant, where the remnants are a "pile of matchsticks," said Andrews, who visits the island about twice a year.

"The story is not good," he said.

"It's the most powerful storm ever."

If his house on Anguilla is gone, Andrews said he doesn't know what he's going to do.

"I'm going to face that hurdle when I get to it."

In the past he's seen Category 2, 3 and even 4 hurricanes but never a Category 5, with winds up to 280 km/h.

"It's unheard of," he said. "No one really knew what to expect."

Challenges down the road

After the storm, Andrews expects some challenges for people living on the island. Since everything has to be imported by boat, supplies, food and water could be limited.  

"You don't just run to Home Depot and get plywood," he said.

"Once those supplies are exhausted, you have to wait for another ship to come in with more supplies."

The island is seeking emergency help. Royal marines and road engineers have already been sent to clean up the debris.

Far from home

Nadine Leslie left the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean on Sunday, expecting to return again in the fall to a familiar world.

But when the Grand Manan native does go back in October, that will hardly be the case.

"I was just there, you know?" said Leslie, who lives at Cane Garden Bay and Ballast Bay on badly battered Tortola.

"Everything is ruined … it's going to be the longest two months of my life."

Leslie said she's been a wreck since not hearing from her boyfriend or any of her friends since 11 a.m. on Wednesday.  

I'd rather be there and know what's going on instead of not being able to get a hold of anyone. It's a living nightmare.-Nadine Leslie

 "I keep having meltdowns," said the water sports instructor, who returned home to New Brunswick during the island's off-season to visit family and work for a few months.

She does know her boyfriend and his roommates took all their belongings and moved them to higher ground at a friend's house on top of a mountain on the island.

"All communication is down and where they are it's a long, narrow, winding road to the top of a mountain," said Leslie, who has lived on the island for more than two years.

"I'm sure there's ample debris just barricading them off from being able to get down."

"I'd rather be there and know what's going on instead of not being able to get a hold of anyone. It's a living nightmare."

Irma destroyed buildings on the island and left many people homeless, so Leslie has already started a relief fund.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing," she said. "We just have to pull through and clean up."

Dean Parsons spent the past four days trimming trees, lining up sandbags in front of the doors to his home in Cabarete, along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, near the Puerto Plata Airport.

"You plan for the worst and hope for the best," said Parsons, who lived in Fredericton for several years and worked as a police officer until he retired in 2005.

"Everybody kind of keeps an eye out for each other."

As Irma headed toward Dominican Republic, he saw heavy winds up to 120 km/h, waves about four metres high hitting a reef, and a storm surge but not much rain.

"It'll get strong for a few minutes and kind of lay down a bit, but the waves are coming all the way up to our sea wall, which never happens," said Parsons, who owns a cigar company on the island.

"There's massive waves outside the reef."

Parsons's condo is about 50 metres from the water but he wasn't too worried Thursday at midday.

He said he was more concerned about people in lower-lying areas, who would have waves running up their properties.

"Across the road from where we live … there's hundreds or people that are in very minimalist houses," he said.

"The guardhouse on the beach in front of our condo was washed out. … It literally just disappeared into the ocean."