Cat 5 and 4runners

[St Runner]

I am back after 5 months. On September 5th St John got hit with Cat 5 hurricane Irma with 185 sustained winds and gust recorded over 250 mph. I have been through two major hurricanes already, but this one was really crazy. My own house and vehicles fared pretty well compared to almost everyone else as I live in a protected valley but the devastation especially in the mountains and west side of the island was incredible. My parents lost the house I grew up in and the roof of the one they live in now






One is a pic of my driveway with all the vehicles on it. The worst was the 2001 4runner which cracked the windshield and received a good dent on the roof. The other pictures are of my parents houses and a view of Coral bay which got hit pretty bad. The island had no power at all for 2 months and I did not get power back at my house for 3 1/2 months. Thankfully my 1.2 kw solar system worked fine for the basics. Finally have internet back this week so I can share my overblown opinion with someone other than my wife

 

[GSTMike]

I am back after 5 months. On September 5th St John got hit with Cat 5 hurricane Irma with 185 sustained winds and gust recorded over 250 mph. I have been through two major hurricanes already, but this one was really crazy. My own house and vehicles fared pretty well compared to almost everyone else as I live in a protected valley but the devastation especially in the mountains and west side of the island was incredible. My parents lost the house I grew up in and the roof of the one they live in nowView attachment 285336

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One is a pic of my driveway with all the vehicles on it. The worst was the 2001 4runner which cracked the windshield and received a good dent on the roof. The other pictures are of my parents houses and a view of Coral bay which got hit pretty bad. The island had no power at all for 2 months and I did not get power back at my house for 3 1/2 months. Thankfully my 1.2 kw solar system worked fine for the basics. Finally have internet back this week so I can share my overblown opinion with someone other than my wife

Damn that's some crazy ish, glad you all came through it relatively unscathed

 

[pluton]

Thanks for the report. If you could post photos with larger pixel dimensions, that'd be nice.

 

[St Runner]

Been having some issues with the internet and getting pictures on to my mac from an android phone so please bear with me. lets see if I can get some decent photos up

 

[St Runner]

Thats better. These are some of the first photos I posted of my parents house

 

[St Runner]

Since everyone loves a train wreck, here is some more

 

[marcus clarkus]

Whoa I'm glad you're all ok, that looks brutal. That's crazy you were without power for so long. Was there enough food? How did other people manage? Gas generators?

 

[St Runner]

Most everyone has a generator. The upscale rental houses all have big 12k and up diesel generators that will run the whole house. Everyone else has smaller gas ones. Most of the solar is sell back to the power company which does not do any good when the whole infrastructure goes down. The interesting thing was that first week. I did not get into the main town for three days as I was unboarding the house and getting my stand alone solar system running and then clearing the side road because it was impassable. It was the closest thing to the zombie apocalypse I have ever seen. Tourist walking around all dazed, debri piled everywhere, military helicopters flying into the ballfield. No way to get off the island, no power, no internet and only one spot on the whole island with phone service. You could tell where that was because there was 200 people waving there phones in the air trying to get one bar. Fema and the military where on it pretty quick for those who needed it but then less than 2 weeks later another cat 5 Maria went over St Croix (40 mile from us) and then Puerto Rico so the military had to leave the island.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Most everyone has a generator. The upscale rental houses all have big 12k and up diesel generators that will run the whole house. Everyone else has smaller gas ones. Most of the solar is sell back to the power company which does not do any good when the whole infrastructure goes down. The interesting thing was that first week. I did not get into the main town for three days as I was unboarding the house and getting my stand alone solar system running and then clearing the side road because it was impassable. It was the closest thing to the zombie apocalypse I have ever seen. Tourist walking around all dazed, debri piled everywhere, military helicopters flying into the ballfield. No way to get off the island, no power, no internet and only one spot on the whole island with phone service. You could tell where that was because there was 200 people waving there phones in the air trying to get one bar. Fema and the military where on it pretty quick for those who needed it but then less than 2 weeks later another cat 5 Maria went over St Croix (40 mile from us) and then Puerto Rico so the military had to leave the island.

There were tourists that STAYED?!? That's nuts.

I can't even imagine what the cleanup effort is like, it seems as though the entire island is littered with debris and abandoned houses. Where would one even start? Glad you and your family is ok though, that could have been much worse.

 

[xcmtb83]

WOW, that is a lot of destruction. I am pretty sure we stayed at a place very close to where the attached picture was taken. Was the building with the red/orange roof a restaurant or something? Is Skinny Legs off to the far left?...I don't recognize it if it is.

 

[St Runner]

There were six houses on the road that picture was taken from. Three fared pretty well, two were really beat up and one was completely destroyed. The building with the big red roof is a business complex with a restaurant, it fared pretty well. Skinnys was pretty much toast but as you know there was not much to it anyways, they are back up and running. The island has rebounded pretty well, just hoping for a good tourist season to put money back in peoples pockets

 

[lhsoulrebel]

There were six houses on the road that picture was taken from. Three fared pretty well, two were really beat up and one was completely destroyed. The building with the big red roof is a business complex with a restaurant, it fared pretty well. Skinnys was pretty much toast but as you know there was not much to it anyways, they are back up and running. The island has rebounded pretty well, just hoping for a good tourist season to put money back in peoples pockets

So sorry to hear and see that destruction. I lived in St. John for just under a year in 2002, and then spent a lot of time there in 03/04 as well(my buddy owned Larry’s Landing in Cruz bay). I don’t recognise it in those pics.... all the lush vegetation is stripped from the trees and plants. Hope to get back soon and bring some friends to get some cash into peoples hands. Good luck!