Homes and businesses in Lowe Sound, North Andros, were severely damaged after Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm, ripped through the islands on Thursday. (Photo: Ahvia J. Campbell)
Willie Farrington walked over family photos, destroyed furniture, pieces of roof and broken glass as he surveyed what was once his home in Lowe Sound, Andros, on Saturday.
He recalled how he, his wife, his four and seven-year-old daughters and his sister-in-law were trapped in the home for three hours waiting for the storm to pass.
"Never in my life have I seen anything like this before," Farrington said.
"I actually watched the ocean; it was like the ocean was coming straight through us.
"Judgment Day ran through my mind.
"The ceiling fell on my four-year-old and the water started coming up about four feet.
"I had to put both of my daughters in the ceiling.
"I had to burst the window open for the water to flow free.
"My biggest fear the whole time was the water, and not for me, for my kids actually."
Farrington said he could remember the screams of the women in his house.
"That really got to me because I was the only man," he said.
Farrington admitted he panicked.
"At the end of it, I looked at the time and I said 'Baby, hold on, it's almost 12 o'clock'; the water should be going back', and as soon as I said that the water started pulling out.
"I lost my business across the street.
"My business, my boats, the car, everything; the only thing I saved was my life."
Although the frame of his house was still standing, everything else was ruined.
His backyard was filled with broken bottles, overturned cars and clothing in bushes, along with household items.
Farrington said his family was staying with other family members in a safer place while he tries to clean what is left of the house.
Not too far away, Magorie Russell, 68, was also cleaning up after the storm.
Chairs, clothing and even ripped money were strewn on the porch of her home, still wet from the Category 4 storm, which roared through last Thursday.
Russell's roof collapsed on one side and the house was leaning after being pushed by the strong force of the wind.
Russell sat on her soaked couch with her granddaughter in her lap and her grandson by their side, retelling the tale of her Matthew experience.
"I looked through the door around six something, or maybe five something in the morning," Russell said.
"It started raining and the tide was kind of low, so it was bringing the water into the road and it was splashing back out.
"But when the tide really got high, the wind sprung up and then the water started coming in and flooded the place and the wind pushed and blew the place down; it was hard, very hard.
"The water was... all over the place, so we just [went] to the next door neighbor."
Russell said at the time five people were at home, including three children.
"At one time I was afraid and then a next mind tell me 'Don't get scared'.
"So after the mind tell me don't get scared, I didn't get scared because I'm used to hurricane.
"I just trust my house and I trust in God.
"[I've] never seen nothing like this before, but I wasn't scared like that.
"We stayed until the hurricane was almost over. About an hour after we left, the hurricane was over."
Russell didn't seem to grasp the extent of the storm's impact, nor did she seem bothered or affected by the traumatic incident that occurred.
Her grandson, Nicholas Russell, however recalled a more telling experience of fear and devastation.
"I got so scared I wanted to cry, but I couldn't because I had to be strong," he said.
"My grammy [is] so hard-headed she didn't want to leave even when the hurricane was coming and the house was flooding.
"We had to lift her out of the house."
Nicholas Russell said he has been traumatized by the incident and is sure that his family feels the same way.
He no longer wants to live in Lowe Sound, which is in North Andros, one of the hardest areas hit by Matthew.
'Water up to our neck'
As Prime Minister Perry Christie and a delegation toured the settlement on Saturday, another resident, Deon Evans, stood in apparent disbelief in front of what was left of the home of her mother-in-law.
It was the second place she sought shelter after having to climb out of the window of her own home to escape drowning.
Soon after, she was once again forced out as the combination of wind and surge burst through the walls of the house and the roof collapsed.
"I was in my building first and when I saw the water was coming in, I told my husband 'we have to go'," Evans recalled.
"So we had to jump through the window, but when we came in here the water also burst this wall and the water was coming in.
"So my brother-in-law said to me we need to go next door and he and my husband's cousin, all of us, left.
"They had to pull me because I fell down twice when we were trying to go to Aunt Seba next door for rescue.
"When I reached in Aunt Seba's house and I sat down, it was like I couldn't breathe, the water was so much; it was like I couldn't breathe.
"The water was like a river.
"We have a creek in the back and this water in the front and they met...and it was up to our neck.
"The water just kept on rising and rising.
"It was a disaster, that's all I could say, it was a disaster."
Evans said her biggest comfort now is that all of her children and other family members evacuated the yard before the hurricane.
She said she prays that this type of weather never hits Lowe Sound again.
When asked what she would do if another hurricane were to hit the settlement, Evans said, "If there is a hurricane then we have to evacuate.
"I don't want no one tell me to evacuate.
"I am going, because what I have experienced, what I have seen, I do not wish that on my greatest enemy.
"Some people [are]only left with the clothes on their backs because everything is gone.
"Some people's houses are just on the ground."
In need
Debbie Evans is one of the residents whose home was destroyed.
She cried with her young son and daughter by her side as she expressed her family's needs in the aftermath of the hurricane.
She said that although she did evacuate her home in time, her family was still not spared from the overwhelming experience that was Hurricane Matthew.
"My area is a low ground area, so I don't ever stay there during a hurricane," Evans said.
"So we packed a bag and we left Tuesday morning.
"Thursday morning, we were at my sister's house.
"We got up; we cooked breakfast.
"It was raining and it was blowing but not [hard].
"Around 10 o'clock the water started coming in the house, so we started to mop.
"But then the water started coming in so fast, it was like I don't know.
"The water started coming in so fast we had to grab the children and try to get to the front.
"One of my sisters lives to the back and the other lives to the front.
"It was my three children, and my sister had her four children, so she [went] out first.
"I have a 22-year-old who has sickle cells and she suffered a stroke, so she could walk but she would need help.
"As we opened the door and got in the water, the water reached as high as our breasts.
"I had to take my son and raise him up, his head was just out of the water."
Evans said the only thing that went through her head was death.
Her voice started to break once more as she held her son and her daughter stood by her side.
"As we got into the water it seemed as if the water was pushing us back," she said.
"It was a step there and I sat on the step because I already gave up.
"But then I saw one of my sisters come and she helped us to get to safety."
'We need immediate attention'
Brian Cleare, chief councilor for the North Andros district, said there are about 10 houses that were lost and about six to eight houses with half of the roof on.
"Lowe Sound needs immediate attention; 99.9 percent of the young men in this community are fishermen," Cleare said.
"Their homes are damaged, their boats are destroyed and we need immediate attention.
"This hurricane caught a lot of people with their pants down even though they knew it was coming.
"This is a lesson learned for this community.
"We here in Lowe Sound we will bounce back from this.
"The quicker the necessary equipment, materials and supplies get in here, then we can start mobilizing people and start taking care of this community."
Most of the community still has no electricity and no water.
North Andros experienced significant damage and flooding in the pumping station, according to a press release from the Water and Sewerage Corporation on Sunday morning.
Water for the community is only available from the pumping site.
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