AfterMatth

After Tropical Storm Matthew blew through Saint Lucia,  residents started cleaning up. Downed power lines had cut electricity to most of the island.  Rivers  choked with wreckage and tree limbs overflowed bridges.  Landslides, floods, and drowned livestock seem to be the biennial consequence of high winds and rain.


The major export crop, bananas, was literally turned upside down.  The top heavy plants lack a stabilizing root system. The fruit is usually protected by plastic bags, but with this much rain,  the skins  burst from relentless moisture.

Since the public schools are used as emergency shelters, music classes were canceled for three days during the clean up. All police and rescue workers reported to work and appeared in uniform at roadsides with chainsaws.  A boat sank in the marina, and sand rearranged itself on the shore in beautiful new ways.

As I survey the new topography of the local beach, the government workers take a deep breath, pick-up their chain saws and rakes and clean-up, again.