david

Accounts of Hurricane David:

September 1, 1979, New York Times

Hurricane Strikes Dominican Republic at 150 M.P.H.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, (AP) – Hurricane David turned abruptly northward today after sweeping across several Caribbean islands and struck the Dominican Republic with winds up to 150 miles an hour.

Weather officials said that the storm hit the Dominican Republic just southwest of this capital city in the afternoon. Before its sudden swerve northward, it had been moving westward about 50 miles to the south of the Dominican Republic.

There were no immediate reports of casualties here as the city and its immediate area came under torrential rains. Emergency teams were waiting for the winds to abate so they could go out to assist people in distress.

September 3, 1979, New York Times

Dominicans Report 600 killed by hurricane and flooding

Hurricane David killed more than 600 people and left 150,000 more homeless in the Dominican Republic on Friday, Dominican officials reported yesterday.

The death toll from the hurricane, one of the century's most powerful Caribbean storms, rose to more than 640 with the reports from Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, that 150 mile-an-hour winds and huge tides had flooded towns, leveled homes and crops and cut a wide swath of destruction across the Island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

More than 400 of the Dominican victims were killed when a river flood inundated a church and school where they had sought shelter in the southwestern town of Padre las Casas. In San Cristóbal, 20 miles west of Santo Domingo, 22 persons who had huddled in another church were killed when the roof collapsed, and 185 more were reported killed throughout the nation.

Relief teams and Dominican officials said the death toll could go much higher as the full effects of the storm are uncovered in the next few days.

Another hurricane – named Frederic, the season's third – was spawned in the South Atlantic over the weekend and appeared yesterday to be following David's approximate path.

September 9, 1979, New York Times

Storm Misery Still Unfolds for Dominicans

San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic – Rows of toddlers weak from hunger and suffering from gastroenteritis lay on wooden benches, glucose dripping into their arms as their mothers sat in the dark fanning them with newspapers.

The hospital at San Cristóbal, a city turned into a rubbish heap by Hurricane David, had been without power for six days. Three children had died here of gangrene, and there were unofficial reports of surgery without anesthesia.

The winds of Hurricane David killed an estimated total of 1,000 people, left more than 100,000 homeless and destroyed water supplies, power and communications in this country. Then came the floods and landslides. As more rain fell day by day, there were more deaths and more isolation from food and medical help.

Flags have been at half-staff in mourning here all week, but the tragedy is still unfolding, and its dimensions are not yet known.

September 11, 1979, from Joan (Pinchie) Shannon:

Well, this has been quite an experience. I will try to tell you in order all about the hurricane.

August 29 – Beautiful weather and normal life at La Posada. About 8:30 p.m. Willie heard the report that the hurricane, David, was heading for the Dominican Republic. Daddy, Willie and Johnny prepared the Posada for heavy rains, filled the cistern, and filtered a good supply of drinking water.

August 30 – We went to the airport to see Anne off to Wheaton College. She got the last plane out. Afterwards we stopped to shop and the stores were packed with people buying matches, lamps, mops and food. Packages of matches were selling at $8.00. Can you believe?! When we arrived home at La Posada, the waves were humongous. Daddy had boarded up our windows and told people from the farm to come and stay at La Posada as their houses might be in danger. Electricity had been off all day. That night, Johnny and I slept on the floor in Mommy and Daddy's room. We expected David to pass by the next day.

August 31 – The radio announced that David would pass by Santo Domingo at noon. It was supposed to be south of our coast, but we expected very strong winds and rains. So we packed a suitcase and took our food up to La Posada. That was about 10:00 a.m. Everything was fine, quite a wind was blowing and the waves were high. Part of the swimming pool wall caved in and as we were having lunch, the zinc started coming off the roofs of the motel and off the back garage. We even saw the roof start to rip off our house. Soon we realized the windows of the Posada were going to blow in and the last we heard on the radio was that David had changed course and that he was going to hit our coast. Daddy and Willie got us all into the ladies' bathroom under the stairs. Willie dashed back out to get a loaf of bread for me so that I would not be without food.

The next few hours were terrible. The building shook and the sounds of pounding and breaking were terrifying. Then the main door of La Posada blew off and water poured in filling up the room where we were to our ankles. We thought the bathroom door was going to blow in too. In the middle of all this Johnny started to softly sing, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Mommy gave us gum because the pressure was popping our ears. We were praying and singing in Spanish and English because the other people from the farm only spoke Spanish. There were about 30 of us crowded into that little room. Not one of them cried or panicked. And as we reminded each other of God's care and His goodness, we soon felt peace in our hearts instead of fear. I knew that even if we were killed, we would go to be with God.

Afterwards the winds only came in gusts. Daddy was able to go out and get my insulin. It was safe in the freezer, safe where we had left it even though the lid had been blown off the freezer. Willie went out and rescued Bengi (Nicole's dog) who had been outside all the time. Mommy went out to find my syringes. They were bone dry. Safe! Perfectly safe with all my records that I am supposed to show my doctor – dry! When everything else was floating in water, that was a relief. We spent the night sleeping on benches in the ladies bathroom while people who had lost their homes kept arriving at La Posada looking for shelter from the winds and rains.

September 1 – I got to go outside. What a change. I didn't recognize anything. All palm trees were down. The motel roofs were gone. Our roof was off and our bedrooms and living room were destroyed. The mobile surgical unit was turned over and blown up against the wall. The swimming pool was all broken up. Every window in La Posada was gone except the one in front of the bathroom door where we were hiding. Every zinc roof was off except the one over the food supply room and the pharmacy.

We lost many things. Our clothes were saved and we gave a lot away to people who didn't have a thing. I could even give some little soaking toys and dolls to children and that made them smile. Our family moved in with the Hunters whose house was only partly damaged. God provided everything we needed for all nine of us and the three hundred refugees in La Posada until food arrived from the outside six days later. There were oranges from a nearby orchard, platanos washed up on the beach and avocados. We all got free milk from the university dairy farm nearby.

All of us worked in the day, cleaning up and caring for the sick. I had classes and games for the children. At night we had meetings to sing, give out vitamins and tell people how to keep clean and healthy and ration water.

September 7 – Our family left to come to Santo Domingo. Helen left Saturday to start school at Stony Brook in New York, and Daddy left for Miami to see about getting aid. Johnny, Mommy and I are living at the Cochrane's house in Santo Domingo.

September 10 – I started Grade 6. A lot of my school papers are wet and moldy, but every lesson is complete.

From Sheila Shannon to MGM supporters, September 10, 1979:

Ten days after the passing of hurricane David we look back on what was a terrifying, devastating, yet wonderful experience. As we surveyed the extent of destruction to the work of almost ten years, and picked up what we could salvage out of the debris of our house, we have all had our time to cry. Yet our overwhelming feelings are ones of gratefulness to God for sparing our lives during the actual storm and providing for our every need in the days immediately following when we were incommunicado (out of touch with the world). Our children have stood by us, not only encouraging and strengthening us, but in sharing in the responsibility of caring for the homeless who crowded into what remains of La Posada. With us they realize afresh that the meaning of our lives is not found in the things we possess, but rather in loving God and in serving others.

As we look to the days ahead there are many uncertainties, but one thing is sure: there will be ample opportunity to serve our neighbors who are in desperate need. We ask God to use each one of us with the particular capacities and abilities that He has given us as channels of physical and spiritual blessing.

Johnny, Joan and I are now sharing the comfortable home of Jim and Grace Cochrane in Santo Domingo. This morning the children resumed their correspondence studies. New shoots appeared on bare branches and lone plants blossomed in the first sunshine in many days. We take courage and look with hope to see the greater good that God will work out of tragedy and devastation.

Our future is uncertain. It is good to know the God "who has been our dwelling place in all generations," and to remember His promise not to leave us without His guidance, direction and purpose.

From John Shannon to MGM supporters, September 13, 1979:

There are now three hundred and fifty refugees from the storm crowded into the remains of the Posada. To them and many others in the area we feel a responsibility to help restart lives. Without help it will be impossible for most of these people to rebuild a subsistence level of living. Food will be needed for several months. Building supplies will enable them to return home and plant crops.

Our future is being assessed. There undoubtedly is a greater need now than ever for help, but we are looking to find how best we can do this. Pray that God will give us clear direction.

From John Shannon to MGM supporters, December 1979:

Fifteen weeks have gone by quickly since Hurricane David swept through the Dominican Republic. Here is an update of some happenings since the storm. $135,000 has been collected to date.

Project "Entre Rios" was formed to focus attention on the area between the Nizao and Nigua rivers, where the eye of the hurricane entered the island.

The Government gave us a building in Santo Domingo; here we are salvaging our medical equipment and supplies. The Dominican Eye team is holding daily clinics. Work is going ahead on cleaning up the eye glass collection.

The three hundred and fifty refugees, after living five weeks in the Posada, moved back to shelters they had built on their properties. Food and clothing have been distributed regularly to over five thousand people.

The Shannons and Hunters are living in near-by apartments in the west end of Santo Domingo. LaMar Stauffer is in the DR with his family, directing the relief work of the Mennonite Central Committee. They have started work on rebuilding the town of Juan Baron, fifteen miles west of La Posada.

We do not plan on rebuilding the facilities of the Posada, but are considering a warehouse facility in Santo Domingo.

April, 1997, to Ralph from Barbara, in Vancouver, visiting with the Shannons:

It's been very interesting to be able to sit down and talk with the Shannons about their experiences with Hurricane David. I told John how we'd been grateful for Trujillo's fear of being bombed, and his building La Posada as well reinforced and sturdy as he did, otherwise they all probably would've been killed. He said the front door of the Posada got blown off when the storm surge hit the building. Like a tidal wave – just a huge wall of water. The water gushed into the bathroom where they all were. John reached down with his hand, dipped his fingertips in the water and tasted it. It was salty. His heart just sank. In David, they measured the lowest atmospheric pressure that has ever been measured, according to the National Geographic article that's in the September,1980 edition. It was relatively compact, even though it measured 300 miles in diameter, but the most powerful for its size that has ever been measured, and the wind gusts were up to 175 mph.

What was terrifying was that they didn't know anything about storm surges in the eye of hurricanes, which according to that article kill 90% of the casualties from hurricanes. They didn't know that was the only wave that would hit like that, in the eye of the hurricane where the water was pulled up about 40 feet above sea-level. That's what caused almost all of the destruction on the coastline.

Then, after Hurricane David had passed, John went into Santo Domingo – had ridden a little row-boat of Willie's across the river because the bridge to Nigua was washed out, and had hiked into Santo Domingo and went to the post office. It was deserted. People were running. He asked what was happening and they said there was another hurricane coming. Same path as David! John's heart sank. He didn't know anything about its size or strength. So he rushed back to La Posada and told the people another was on its way. Some of the people just left, they were so scared – they went up into the mountains. But Hurricane Frederick had been weakened, at least in the Caribbean, by its proximity to David. There was no wind, just a tremendous downpour. Sheila said that Frederick caused most of the deaths because of the flooding, then it went on and gained strength after it veered away from David, and caused so much damage in Alabama.

After the back-to-back hurricanes, they collected all the debris that they could. They made a big pile near the miniature golf course, out the dining room door, and distributed it to everyone to use to rebuild their houses. They all took turns, taking out their pieces and hauling it off to use.

They made schedules. The first schedule was to live for five days. That was about the time it took them to contact with the outside world. During that time, they worked at opening the roads.

People were assigned to the vehicles as temporary housing. Each of the vans had one or two families. The bus had about four or five families. Each of the dorm rooms upstairs had two or three families, divided by curtains. They had the beds and all the linens, and provided housing for all 350 refugees.

They figured people would come and want food, but what amazed them was that people came bringing food! The storm had been so intense that the creek and river were bringing plantain trees, bananas and oranges from upcountry. They gathered all the food together and divided it up among all the families that were there. The freezers had been full before the hurricane. The tops had blown off yet the food was all frozen. Over the next two or three days, they gave a chicken to each family, and distributed what they had.

Can you imagine that? As shocking as it was for me when someone gave us a live chicken for Sunday dinner at La Posada – imagine how it must've been for some of those families to get a frozen chicken! I'll bet most of them had never had frozen chicken before.

There was no propane, and the stoves were full of sand, but the women from the farm all knew how to cook with fire so that was no problem.

Eighty-six of the 350 people who were living at the Posada after the hurricane were injured. One had a broken back, one a broken leg. One man came that had a stick coming out of the side of his neck that had blown into him. The men with the broken leg and back – they strapped them onto doors, and others of the men carried them over the hills to the hospital in San Cristóbal.

Willie Hunter, and fifteen-year-old Helen Shannon, looked after the medical work for all the sick and injured people. John said it was amazing that they had the biggest supply of antibiotics and medicines they'd ever had at La Posada. The project participants that had just been there had brought down a great volume of medicine, and they'd already been fairly well stocked. So they were just packed with it.

They dispensed ointments, medicines, and had to even do suturing and cleaning out wounds – all kinds of lacerations from the sheets of zinc that flew off roofs and into people.

Amazingly, John said there was not a single complication.

Helen even helped a lady deliver a baby. This was after the roads had been cleared, and Ruth Watkins drove the car to San Cristóbal. Just when they got to the hospital, Ruth ran to get a gurney and Helen saw the baby fall – she grabbed it just as they were putting the woman up on the gurney. Both the mother and her baby boy lived. She named him "David."

Ruth Watkins was the first person from outside to get to La Posada. She'd been in San Cristóbal, helping at a hospital. She told the people she wanted to go to Boca de Nigua to check on her friends. They told her that there was nobody alive out there. She got there on foot because the roads were all blocked with trees and houses...

Ruth finished medical school soon after Hurricane David, and has a clinic in Santo Domingo now. Maybe I'll get to see her when I go back in August.

After Hurricane Frederick, a lot of American help went to the DR, but they didn't get any at La Posada – they delivered food and provisions to villages that had been wiped out north of Azua. Some Dominican government officials went out and visited them at La Posada, and saw what they were doing with the provisions they had. They said in the whole country they'd never seen anything so well organized as what they had at La Posada. But they never received anything from any agency – only gave out what they already had. John made an appeal to the U.S. government – he requested assistance for the 4,000 people in Nigua who had lost everything. They said they'd help, and the next day they sent a big army truck, sixteen wheeler. But in it they had ten little boxes – each one being the daily rations of one GI. That's all they ever got.

I asked him why the surgical van had been left down by the pool where it got knocked over by the hurricane. He said it'd been there for the summer eye project. The truck that hauled it had been taken to San Juan where the transmission went, so they couldn't bring it home. They didn't have a way to move the surgical van. After the hurricane, it was taken into Santo Domingo, to a hospital, and was used as an x-ray room. It wasn't completely destroyed, just knocked around.

They set a goal that everyone was to try to get moved back to their homes within five weeks. They distributed forty-foot-square sheets of heavy construction plastic to cover their houses with so they could get started rebuilding. And they gave every family a bed from the Posada. A soaking wet bed, but the sun got good and hot after Frederick was gone.

All of the vehicles were operational after the hurricane though they had to change the windows because they'd all been sand-blasted. Also the sides rusted quickly because the paint had been sanded off.

Sheila said they lost all of their personal photos during that hurricane. For weeks after, they'd have people bringing them personal papers or pictures that they knew had come from the North Americans. They got one photograph returned to them all the way from San Cristóbal!

John said it was an exhilarating emotion when it was all over, that they were alive. Material things were immaterial at that point – God provided a protective safety valve – they were joyful just to be living.