S. Grenadines MP tears up as he speaks about Hurricane Beryl experience

Southern Grenadines MP Terrance Ollivierre on Tuesday teared up and his voice broke as he spoke about the desolation he witnessed on Union Island after the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1.

The opposition lawmakers said July 1 was the darkest night of his life and he prayed to God for morning to come.

“The people of the Southern Grenadines went through a terrible ordeal as a result of Hurricane Beryl,” he said at a press conference hosted by the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Kingstown.

The storm claimed six lives, five of them on Union Island, where Ollivierre lives.

“The horrific experience is something that many persons won’t want to encounter again in their lifetime,” he said.

Beryl slammed into the Southern Grenadines as a category 4 hurricane packing winds of 130-156 mph. It destroyed about 95% of the buildings on the islands of Canouan, Mayreau and Union Island. The resort islands of Palm Island and Petit St. Vincent were also severely impacted.

Carriacou and Petit Martinique, which form part of Grenada, also felt the storm’s fury.

Ollivierre said that after the hurricane passed, he walked through “the rubble of my home” to the porch and took advantage of the remaining daylight to see what had happened on the island.

“I realised that most of the shelters on the island of Union were destroyed. The stories of people in the shelters [were that they had] crammed into small bathroom or toilet spaces for safety, trying to hold each other…”

He said the experiences were “so horrific, you wouldn’t want to hear some of the many stories that were told.

“I realised that the health facilities, the main hospital in Union Island were also crippled,” he said.

Ollivierre praised the work of the health staff who “had to work with whatever they can or whatever little space that remains there in order to look after the injured”.

He said some of the injuries were so critical that one person died “after what he went through”.

The police were strained because the police station was destroyed, he said, adding that officers’ accounts showed that they relied on their training to survive.

“The road network was — you couldn’t get through anywhere,” Ollivierre said, adding that electricity polls were everywhere.

“I would say 98% broken, across the roadway. So, it made it even more difficult to get the injured and the sick to the hospital.

“Many of the houses were broken. In some cases, you only see a spot where you know a house was there. But there’s nothing left. Sometimes the bare foundation.”

He said that while it was “a bid mistake” for many people to have weathered the storm at home,  those who went to the emergency shelters had similar experiences.

“At this point, I must say I’m very heartened by our people in the Southern Grenadines, by my people in the Southern Grenadines for their benevolence and the resilience, of how they banded themselves together and work for the benefit of all.

“Regardless of who you were or whether. People said to me, ‘Ollivierre, people who were enemies, start talking. People who weren’t talking, together, hugged, squeezed each other that they were glad to see familiar faces.”

The telephone network in the Southern Grenadines collapsed after the storm, cutting off communication with the rest of the country, preventing the rest of the nation from learning immediately about the devastation.

Ollivierre said that after the hurricane, he was unable to reach NDP leader Godwin Friday, who lives in the Northern Grenadines island of Bequia, which was also impacted.

He said he was happy when he reached Central Kingstown MP, Major St. Clair Leacock, an NDP vice-president.

“I walked to a Starlink that day. And the setup, I got Major and I said, ‘Maj., we’re in a crisis situation down here. We need help. See who you could get on to because Union Island is totally decimated’,” Ollivierre said, his voice cracking and tears welling up in his eyes.

‘the darkest night I have ever seen in my life’

Ollivierre said that after a few hours, the darkness fell suddenly.

“And people try to find whatever space they can, whether damp, whether wet, whatever little corner,” he said.

“The darkness fell and it was the darkest night I have ever seen in my life. And I had to ask God, ‘Please, let morning come; let us see the light. Let us see the light and what we can do in order to help one another on this island.’”

Ollivierre said that he injured himself as he tried to make his way home in the darkness that night.

He said he spent seven days — four on Union Island and two each in Mayreau and Canouan — “walking the length and breadth of the constituency, talking to people throughout the constituency.

He said that becuase of all the water and the wet conditions, the injured foot “swell as big as it can”.

The opposition MP said that in addition to the help from the medical team, he used traditional remedies such as warm aloe.

“… try to do whatever you can in order to survive from island to island.”

Ollivierre said he arrived in Canouan at midnight not knowing if there was any place where he would sleep.

“I mean, it was so difficult. After the hurricane passed and you looked out within the few hours of people trying to see what they can do and to rescue themselves because the shelters were crammed; the little houses that survived were filled.”

He said one man told him that he slept on a chair similar to the one on which Ollivierre was sitting at the press conference because there were so many people in the house.

Ollivierre said he wore the same clothes for three days, as many other islanders had to do.

He said that he lost three-quarters of his house roof in the storm but the other rooms were damp so he resorted to sleeping in his vehicle.