Chapter 3 The hurricane kills
September 17
The beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua was the first island to be hit by Hurricane Irene. The islanders had heard the hurricane warnings. They had lifted their boats out of the water and tied them to the ground. They had put shutters, heavy pieces of wood, in front of their windows to stop the storm from breaking the glass. The islanders had bought so much food and water that the stores were soon empty. They knew that the hurricane might destroy the island's gas stations and that after the hurricane had passed there might be no fresh water for days. They had put gas in their cars and water in their bathtubs.
Most people living close to the sea packed their valuables, their children, dogs and cats into their cars. They closed and locked their homes and went to stay with friends or family in safer parts of the island. Vacationers in coastal areas were not happy when their hotels were closed, but they had no choice. They were taken to stay in hotels higher up on the island where the storm waves could not reach them.
A group of twenty Americans on a week's sailing vacation in the island also knew about the hurricane. They brought their boat, the 40-meter Wave Dancer, into Nelson's Dock and tied it up to the jetty. They went into the town to find a hotel, but all the hotels were closed because of the hurricane. There was nowhere for them to go, so they returned to the boat for the night. Wave Dancer was large and heavy, and they thought they would be safe. After all, they were tied up to the jetty in shallow water only a few meters from land. Hurricane Irene hit them while they slept with 250 kilometers an hour winds. The eight-meter storm wave broke the strong lines holding the boat to the jetty. It lifted the boat up like a toy and turned it over like a piece of paper. Then it dropped the boat. The boat broke up like an egg dropped on a hard floor. All twenty people on the boat died.
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Ikemi had not slept much during the night. Her father had still not returned. She put on a sweater and looked out of the window. She could feel a change in the weather. The sky was cloudy and gray, and the leaves of the palm trees were moving just a little in the light wind. The air felt different. It was colder. She checked the time and turned on the radio.
"Hurricane Irene hit the island of Antigua during the night and more than forty people have died. Many coastal towns were destroyed and thousands of people are homeless. Heavy rains from Irene are continuing to fall and winds have reached 274 kilometers an hour. If Irene does not change course, the hurricane will pass over the Dominican Republic and the island of Cuba within the next twenty-four hours and the coast of Florida in about forty-eight hours. People should leave coastal areas until the storm has passed."
Suddenly, Ikemi felt very worried. Where was her father? Why hadn't he come back? She tried to call him on his cellphone but he didn't answer.
"Maybe he's working on the boat at the marina. He just forgot to call me to tell me he's back."
She left the apartment and went down in the elevator and out into the parking lot. She got into her car and drove a few kilometers down the main street of Key Biscayne before taking a side road. The side road led through some palm trees before reaching a marina full of boats. The marina was busy and some people were raking their boats out of the water.
"Please be here!" thought Ikemi as she hurried to the place where her father kept his boat. But the boat was not there. Ikemi's father was still somewhere out at sea.
'I’m sure he'll hear the hurricane warnings on the radio," she said to herself as she drove slowly back to the apartment . But she was not really sure that he would. She knew that he did not always turn the radio on when he was fishing.
"I need peace and quiet to catch fish," he always said.
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