Cyclone Winston
Nick Low
We had just been informed that there was a cyclone moving in on Fiji. As we looked up at the grey dark sky in fear, there was an odd sense of silence in the air. Small palm leaves lightly shuffled in the light breeze as we sat in silence on the patio of our house.
6 days earlier my mom, dad, sister, brother, and I got off the plane, I could feel the humid air on my skin. We had arrived in Fiji, where we would be staying the next week. After a series of car rides, we arrived at a boat that would bring us to Namena, A small island off the coast of Fiji. As we sped across the water, I could see miles upon miles of beautiful clear water. As the wind was blowing against my face, a school of flying fish leaped out of the ocean, soaring through the air, as if they were truly flying.
After many days of unforgettable snorkeling and fishing, the bad news struck. Cyclone Winston, a class 5 storm was brewing just west of Fiji and was on a path to hit Fiji straight on. We found out earlier in the day and we were packing the last of our belongings to evacuate. The sky was a violent shade of inky black as if warning us of its power. We were on the final boat to leave the island as it was too dangerous to make any more trips across the treacherous ocean. The rest of the people on the island would have to find cover and hope for the best.
It was a Saturday afternoon and the storm was scheduled to hit the islands of Fiji Sunday afternoon. Once we arrived in the harbor, we immediately loaded into a cab and drove off to where we would stay the night.
What I first thought would be some type of house was more of a small hut held up with bamboo. A nice man had invited us to stay the night because everywhere else was full of people. As we finished unpacking for the night and planned out where we would stay for the duration of the storm, I climbed in my bed and drifted off to sleep.
I woke up to dead silence. As I dragged my head off my pillow I peeked out the window and saw an angry sky in the distance. The breeze had picked up and the storm was only hours away. As I walked over to breakfast, I noticed all of the windows had been battened up by large planks of wood. Inside the small cafeteria, I looked around and noticed there was little to no talking; the whole island seemed dead with fear.
By the time our taxi had arrived, the wind was blowing and the rain had started to come down at a steady pace. We were evacuating the small little hut we were staying in; to a larger hotel. As we were driving down the road, there was suddenly a loud crash. A small palm tree had been knocked over by the wind. We just swerved out of the way in time to avoid getting hit. Our driver continued to drive doing his/her best to not skid off the road. As we swerved into the front of the hotel, we grabbed our bags and jumped out of the car. We opened the door to hundreds of people standing in the lobby. They were all crowded around the hotel manager frantically trying to get a room. The wind was howling outside and the water was seeping in through every nook and cranny.
Once we had grabbed a room key, we raced up the stairs to our room. As we ran up, there was water pouring down the stairs and into the lobby. We got into our room and looked out the window overlooking the bay. We could just barely make out the bay and what we saw was extremely frightening. Just about every boat had been capsized by 15-foot waves including a small cruise ship.
By now the wind was blowing consistently over 150 miles per hour. The sound of the wind was reminiscent of a jet engine on a mission to kill. As I looked out the window, palm trees and parts of houses were flying right and left. The storm was in full effect. As I pressed against the glass, I suddenly started to feel something wobble; I didn't know if I was hallucinating or dreaming and suddenly I heard cracking. The glass was bending almost to the point of breaking. We all ran into the bathroom and used whatever we could to brace the door, in case the glass cracked and we were exposed directly to the storm.
The wind was blowing as hard as ever and was so loud I could feel my ears ringing. At this point, I was sure it was only a matter of time till Mother Nature would win the war and we would all die. While thinking this to myself, I heard something in the distance that I could almost make out as a faint cry for help. I then heard it again and again, louder and louder. “Help! Help, anyone!” We jumped up and opened the bathroom door, which directly connected to the outside hallway. The entire place was flooded with water
“Don't step outside. The wind’s too strong,” my dad said.
“What's happening?” my sister cried out of fear. We could see a lady sitting in a pool of blood with her knee cut open. I could feel my heart drop, and I suddenly was struggling for air. It was surreal. I tried to convince myself it was a dream and that I could just wake up but no, it wasn't.
As the wind howled, we helped the lady to a man who was dealing with the wounded. We then immediately rushed back into our room before we would get blown into the air. Over the next several hours we waited the cyclone out while crammed into the bathroom until it had finally passed.
The first thing I saw as I opened the bathroom door to the gloomy sky was pure destruction. There wasn't a tree to be seen for miles; there was not a standing house
, nor a car that was not flipped over. The storm had obliterated the island, yet something seemed odd: As I walked outside with fear and despair, feeling hopeless for myself as well as the country, I saw something that I would never guess I would see in a million years. I could see 3 little kids jumping around and laughing as they were picking up parts of their house off the ground. I looked to my right and people were working together to pull trees off the road and repairing their houses. What I saw was the true resilience of a country of completely selfless people. The most amazing thing was that they could've easily just worried about themselves, ignoring others, but out of true compassion, they were working together assisting the elderly, repairing others’ houses, and pulling fallen trees off of the road. This gave me hope in the world that people thought of more than just themselves and genuinely cared about others’ well-being.
