Note: This article has been retyped. You can
go directly to the original article in the U.S. Congressional Record
by going to the Congressional
Record Text Select Congress 101 and
search for Petrait.
Two articles
that James A. Petrait wrote shortly after Hurricane Hugo on St. Croix
were placed in the U.S. Congressional Record (February 29, 1990, E
440, E 441) by the VI Representative, Hon. Ron de Lugo. The articles
begin with comments by Hon. Ron de Lugo. Hurricane Hugo started
during the evening of September 17, 1989.
ST. CROIX PARISHIONERS AND STUDENTS
PROVIDE INSPIRATION AFTER HURRICANE HUGO
HON. RON DE LUGO
of the Virgin
Islands
in the House of
Representatives
Wednesday, February 28,
1990
Mr. de LUGO.
Mr. Speaker, the fury of Hurricane Hugo, whose 200-miles-per-hour
winds caused enormous destruction in the U.S. Virgin Islands, also
brought out the dedication and strength of many people in our
community. Thousands of our people huddled together in darkness to
survive the storm, then joined hands to work together to rebuild
their homes, businesses, and lives,
Two such heroic
groups are the students and teachers at St. Joseph High School and
the parishioners and clergy of St. Ann's Parish at Barrenspot on St.
Croix. Whether they were praying together for sheer survival, or
working together to rebuild classrooms and the parish center, these
students and parishioners have been a model of dedication and
community effort. Under the leadership of Bishop Sean O'Malley, they
have been an inspiration to the Virgin Islands.
Brother James
Petrait, who chairs the Science Department of St. Joseph High School,
has recorded the experience of living through Hurricane Hugo in two
moving articles that I want to include in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD so
they will get the national attention they deserve. Bro. James also
began a "Seeds for New Life" campaign that is seeking donations of
garden tools and seeds, as explained in the article.
In reading
Brother Petrait's articles, I am reminded of two fundamental facts
that we, too, easily forget. First, the value of humility. When
Mother Nature unleashes her full power, we human beings are just
grass in the wind. Our power is nothing compared to that of nature.
Second, when destruction is overwhelming, it is most important that
we thanks God for life. The people of St. Joseph's and St. Ann's, who
lost so much in material wealth, have found renewed strength and deep
meaning in the simple blessing of life. That is the lesson for us
all.
Two articles from the Pilot, the paper of the
Boston Archdiocese, and the St. Croix Avis follow here.
(From the Boston
Pilot)
THANK GOD FOR LIFE AND
FRIENDS
(By Brother James A. Petrait,
O.S.F.S.)
It has been
several months since we experienced living through the eye of
Hurricane Hugo on St. Croix and the effects of the terrible disaster
are still with us. Many still have no homes or have severely damaged
dwellings. Much of the island is still without electrical power,
phone service, and running water. But we are rebuilding thanks to the
generous help of our friends in the States and elsewhere.
I remember well
that September night of devastation when the eye of Hugo and its six
tornadoes and winds of over 200 miles per hour near it hovered over
the islands a long time and I will never forget the awesome sight of
the devastation of over 95 % of the buildings on seeing it in the
"morning after". That included the twisted mass of steel which was
once St. Ann's Parish Center located where I live and the millions of
dollars of damage done to the campus of St. Joseph High School where
I teach.
But I also
remember the first words that many of us said to each other after
this disaster. "Thank God for life" was both our greeting and our
prayer. We may have lost many of our material things but we still had
the gift of life from our Creator.
The first week
after Hugo was as bad as the night of the Hurricane. Almost all of
the communications on St. Croix were nonexistent and it was very
difficult for us to contact the outside world or each other. I recall
desperately listening to the "Voice of America" on the short-wave
radio for some news about St. Croix and finding out that there was
little or none. Then I found out that much of the press in the States
was giving the wrong news by sensationalizing the looting, which
could have happened anywhere, and not the awesome devastation and
human suffering.
However, many
of our friends soon found out and during the second month after Hugo
much help started to come in from all of these good people. We are
very thankful for that help and we are thankful that we still have
life. We of St. Croix still need your material help- at St. Ann's,
St. Joseph High School, and all over this largest U.S. Virgin Island.
But we also need your prayers to sustain us during the many delays
and turned-down insurance claims and other requests for help. In
return you can be assured that you will be remembered in all of our
prayers from this island of the "Holy Cross".
In addition to
the other help, I am in need of any kind of flower or vegetable seeds
and small garden tools for my "Seeds for a New Life" program for my
science students. (Note:
This was written in 1989 and the requested help is no longer
needed.)
(From the St. Croix Avis, Nov. 5-6,
1989)
IN THE EYE OF
HUGO
(By Brother James A. Petrait,
O.S.F.S.)
During one of
my science classes at St. Joseph High School on St. Croix on Friday,
September 15, 1989, we said a prayer that the coming hurricane named
Hugo would pass up by as most do. At least, we hoped that it would
only come close enough to give us some more rain water for our
cisterns and perhaps to give us a day off from school because of
excessive rain.
By Saturday
morning, the reports on radio and TV started becoming more serious.
They said that it was a good chance that a Level 4 hurricane would
hit St. Croix by Sunday evening. Looking at my hurricane map, I noted
that a level 4 hurricane would result in roofs coming from houses and
lighter structures blowing away.
All day
Saturday at St. Ann's Parish on Barrenspot Hill, where I live,
everyone helped in putting up plywood to cover the picture windows on
the rectory and taping all of the other windows. Few seemed to be
convinced that this would be a hurricane that would cause much damage
but that it was good to be ready for it. On Saturday afternoon, a
hurricane warning was issued and the weather was already becoming
stormier.
In the basement
of St. Ann's rectory is a cable TV control station for the Catholic
Cable Network on St. Croix. As one of the operators of the station, I
played some announcements with a special prayer for protection of
life from the coming hurricane. In the audio section, I continuously
played a tape of a group saying the mysteries of the rosary. I know
that the prayers of all who joined in somehow did help to protect
most of the human life on St. Croix.
On Sunday
morning, the weather was still not too bad. The 9 AM and 11:30 AM
Masses at St. Ann's were held as usual. St. Ann's is noted for being
one of the largest and most charismatic Catholic parishes in the
Caribbean area. The 9 AM Mass was held in the large Parish Center
building. This open-sided structure made of steel beams could hold
1200 people. Many of the seats were filled and the congregation
praised and worshipped the Lord in their usual dynamic
way.
On Sunday
afternoon, the winds started blowing much stronger. The first floor
TV studio and guest room at St. Ann's rectory has a concrete ceiling
and is below the main stairs. I know that this would be the safest
place to stay during the storm. Around 4 PM in the afternoon, the
pastor, Fr. Elliott Thomas became convinced also.
By Sunday
evening, the winds were blowing fast enough that it would have been
dangerous to go outside anymore, After 7 PM, the winds really started
blowing and the beginnings of around a foot of rain began to come
down. Fr. Elliott and I waited, listened to the radio, and prayed
several rosaries together. The radio gave a report that we should not
worry because the eye of the hurricane would probably miss St.
Croix.
Then we heard
loud noises, things were falling all over on top of the concrete
ceiling and all around us. There were sounds of heavy objects falling
and the sounds of twisting and bouncing pieces of metal. Looking out
the window, I could see nothing but an eerie glow with all of the
debris from the building and trees looking like a snowstorm in a
place that has never seen snow.
More rosaries
were said and all of the local radio stations stopped operating. One
of the stations on St. Thomas was still operating and was giving a
continuous stream of messages for help. At one point, the government
of the Virgin Islands had to use this broadcast station to give
instructions to the police chief of St. Croix. No one seemed to know
what was really happening on our island. We knew by our experience
however that this was a very destructive storm.
The winds
continued to howl with a pitch I never heard before and the loud
noises continued into the small hours of Monday morning. Water
started dripping through the concrete ceiling and for awhile, I
thought some of the concrete walls would be blown over.
Then around 2
AM, everything stopped and it was completely still and quiet. We were
in the eye of the hurricane! They said previously that the average
winds around the eye would be 140 mph! Around that time my ears felt
the same way as they do in going up in an airplane or high location.
They felt like popping! The air pressure had become extremely
low.
After 3 AM, the
winds started to subside a little and we felt that the hurricane had
finally passed us by. We were then able to fall asleep resting in the
arms of our God as never before.
Around 6 AM, we
were awakened by the breaking of daylight. Even though the winds were
still strong and the rain was still falling, we could not resist to
take a look at the outside world. And what a look that was! This was
our "day after"! All around there was incredible damage.
The St. Ann' s
Parish Center was no longer a Parish Center. It was now a mass of
twisted steel and a monument to the force of destruction. The roof on
2 of the rooms of the rectory was completely blown off and most of
the galvanized covering on the other parts of the house were far
away.
One of the
rooms with a missing roof was that of Fr. Elliott. Thank God that he
did not stay up there! A piece of porch railing broke off and hit a
covered picture window in the dining room and blew it out and hurled
a huge dining room table across the room. A large and heavy cabinet
of dishes moved down the room and turned the corner into Fr.
Elliott's room! Dishes and other debris were all over in 2 or 3
inches of water.
The roof and
galvanized sheets on the roof of my room had been spared but one of
the windows and curtains were completely blown away and a heavy air
conditioner flew 20 feet from the wall in which it was mounted. Some
of my belongings were water damaged but I was fortunate compared to
the damage suffered by others.
Bishop Sean
O'Malley of the Virgin Islands had been staying at St. Joseph's
Rectory, 4 miles away during the storm. Fr. Elliott and I attempted
to go see him but we were not able to make it very far down the usual
road because of all of the fallen trees. The destruction we saw all
over was mind-boggling. Almost every house was damaged and many other
buildings looked similar to the Parish Center of St. Ann's. And on
top of that a heavy smell of rotting vegetation filled the
air.
Later I was
able to arrive at the campus of St. Joseph High School and I saw the
tremendous damage done to the school. Many of the roofs of the
individual classroom buildings were off and a large part of the gym
building was damaged. My own science classroom had its roof
completely lifted off and much of the contents inside were scrambled
and laying in 3 inches of green water on the floor. If that wasn't
bad enough, the mosquitoes had also become plentiful from the
stagnant water.
During the
time after the storm, a few of the people on St. Croix took part in
what was now known here as the "second hurricane". With stores that
were completely damaged and few police or national guard, the looting
took place. In a short while practically the whole economic system on
St. Croix had collapsed. Beautiful stores were now empty shells with
debris decaying in putrid water.
What was the
reason for this "second hurricane"? Was it due to abnormal psychology
or was it due to immorality? I won't answer that question here. But I
will say that the news of that happening was distorted far out of
proportion in the U.S. press. The people on St. Croix are good people
and what happened here could happen anywhere in the
States.
Soon after the
hurricane, Bishop Sean O'Malley had a meeting with the priests and
Religious on St. Croix. With his inspirational words and practical
advice, we all began the important tasks of starting to rebuild our
churches, schools, rectories, and convents. At St. Ann's Church, the
parishioners were able to have the 9 AM Mass outside and all were
filled with with thankfulness for the sparing of most human life on
St. Croix. On the following Sundays, the parish was able to use the
old chapel with the help of an additionally scheduled Mass. However,
the parishioners look forward to the day when they will have a new,
strong, and large church.
At the St.
Joseph High School campus, we were able to come up with 4 usable
classrooms at the school and at St. Joseph Church. In addition, the
pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Frederiksted donated the use of 4
unused classrooms at that location. On October 2 and 3, we had a
meeting with the students and their parents at St. Joseph Church and
all were filled in about the details of the school's
reopening.
In addition,
the students were given written and service assignments to do that
were related to Hugo. My own project was called "Molecules For Life"
and through it some students were able to help the St. Croix Catholic
parishes to restore some additional quality of life. One student even
helped out at the newly constructed tent-hospital.
Because the
public schools on the islands are taking a long time to open and
because they recognized the quality of education at our school, over
50 students took entrance tests to enter St. Joseph High School. St.
Joseph High School is recognized as being one of the top schools in
the Caribbean area. It is the only school in the entire United States
that has had 3 Presidential scholars in the last 4 years!
On October 9,
St. Joseph High School reopened on two campuses with an increasing
number of students. All of the dedicated faculty of the school have
returned and by praying and working together, we are making it work.
In my own science classes, I hope to implement a program in the
coming weeks to have students planting and caring for flower and
vegetable seeds. I call it "Seeds for New Life". The success of that
program will depend on the amount of seeds and small gardening tools
that some may want to donate. (Note:
This was written in 1989 and the requested help is no longer
needed.)
We are
recovering on St. Croix and we hope that by this time next year life
will be back to normal. But we still need your help and your prayers.
Be assured that you and the many problems you have are also in our
prayers.