The east coast of the United States and the Carribean were under siege by the Category 5 storm, Hurricane Dorian. It slowly calmed down as it continued to move up the Atlantic, hitting Canada on Sept 7th and leaving Canadians without power. Now, the world finally has an opportunity to reflect and come to terms with what has happened.
In its early stages, Dorian struck the Bahamas with full force on Sept 1st, violently pouring 36 inches of rain with constant winds of 165 mph. Dorian was the first of its size to occur in the Bahamas since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In California, the largest storm to ever occur was a tropical storm, with only two in the last 100 years.
While the storm negatively impacted the U.S., it was nothing compared to that of the Bahamas. In spite of anyone making last efforts to escape, 600 flights were cancelled, trapping the Bahamian population in chaos.
In the U.S., Dorian was mostly over the east coast and Atlantic; the Bahamas were not so lucky. Dorian swept through the islands, tearing homes and buildings apart, leaving 17% of citizens with no home to return to.
As of Sept 9th, U.S. military began taking action to save Bahamians from Dorian, providing supplies to survive until stability can be reestablished.
When Dorian reached Canada, it was a post-tropical storm. Morgan Lin, a junior at Glendora High School, experienced a tropical storm while on vacation in Florida, an area similar to that affected by Dorian. She expresses that while these storms may not be as severe as hurricanes at full strength, the effects are still harmful.
She states, “While we could easily avoid it, it kept us trapped inside for three or four days.”
“It was weird, when we were in the eye of the storm it was completely sunny but it was raining all around it,” Lin recalls from her experiences with Tropical Storm Debby.
What she observed about the eye became a devastating cause of catastrophe during Dorian; the people were given a breath of relief as the quiet eye settled above them, only to face them with a harsher wave of destruction as the quiet before the storm passed.
As the dust settled, the terrifying consequences became evident. After only one day in the Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian tore the islands apart, demonstrating the true strength the planet had over civilization.
To help with the response to Hurricane Dorian, the Grand Bahama Disaster Relief Fund is accepting donations to aid recovery and restoration. While storms like this are not prevalent in California, the awareness of the tragedy is essential, in hopes of protecting others from having to undergo the pain that the Bahamians have.
