Hurricane Tomas

So I got to experience my first hurricane a week ago. It was pretty exciting to say the least. I was unaware that a tropical storm was fast approaching the island but did notice that it was becoming extremely windy as the evening was winding down the night before the storm hit. By morning it had arrived. I woke up with the wind still whipping around and rain soon accompanying it shortly after I had woken up. I thought to myself that this some strange weather we're having so I jumped on the internet and checked the weather as I was making breakfast. Much to my surprise everywhere was reporting that a tropical storm was sweeping through the Eastern Caribbean. By the time I had finished my breakfast, tropical storm Tomas had become hurricane Tomas. I knew that my house was going to be safe; the wind was not strong enough and every window was equipped with hurricane-ready shutters. My big concern was losing power and losing much of the food I had recently purchased and of course not have power for internet access which would have prevented me from watching the Arsenal match that morning. Thankfully, the electricity remained throughout the day and night. It became a true rainy day, sitting watching sports and movies and reading. There wasn't much else I could do. I occasionally would open one of the windows and peak my head out when I could hear strong gusts of wind so I could witness the power of the storm. It was an awesome thing to behold. Every living creature and plant was forced to humble itself before the hurricane and accept the coming conditions. When I looked out, trees were bending to the will of the wind. Everything was in constant motion, the leaf rested still. The rain was almost coming down horizontal at times. I felt like a little kid, giddy with excitement watching the power of the storm. It was never powerful enough to do any type of serious damage the area where I was living, but it did hit other parts of the island hard. Many areas were without power for the day while others had to cope with flooding. I'm high up on top of a hill allowing of the rain water to run downhill. Though that did cause a small amount of flooding in the valley below, but nothing life threatening for anyone. Other parts of the island some flood damage rendering homes inhabitable. The concern for many during the storm was how the weather would affect industry, mainly fishing and agricultural. Though not as powerful as Hurricane Dean three years ago who wiped out the islands banana plantations, Tomas did damage to the banana fields. I drove some plantations a day or two later and saw that many trees did snap and fall over under the force of the winds doing a fair amount of damage some of the plantations. Sugar cane fields, Martinique's other huge agricultural product, received damage too. Further, fishing was disrupted for several days as the sea was violent during the hurricane and the waters had been stirred disrupting both fish and fisherman's way of life. All in all, it was a unique experience, a cool experience, and an experience that thankfully did not do harm to my area though it did impact others on the island. St. Lucia to the east of us was hit much harder as was Haiti in the days following. Unfortunately for the people and other living beings there, they've had to endure more hardship than us in Martinique. In the end I am glad that I could sit comfortably in my residence and observe the power without being subject to the damage that came with Tomas's power.