Hurricane Marilyn - 1995

The 24 Hour Test.

The Red Cross has a rule that if you say that you are available to go on a disaster then you should be ready to leave within 24 hours of being called. I was put to the test in October 1995. Hurricane Marilyn struck the Virgin Islands on Sept. 16th., and I had said that I would be available to go the Virgin Islands. As time went by I thought that I was not needed. A weekend had been planned for the middle of October, and we went as planned not thinking that I would be called to go to the VI. When I got home late Sunday night there was a message on the answering machine letting me know I had been called, and I was leaving on a flight to St. Croix . at 11:00am the next morning. I had to wash & dry clothes that night. The next morning I had to pack and get to the airport .by 10:00am. I was in St. Croix the evening of Oct.17th

During 1995 I had taken a couple of courses in logistics, and this was my first assignment in that function. I was assigned to the warehouse and driving a truck. In the Virgin Islands they drive on the left side of the road. This was my first experience driving on the left.. There were orange stickers on the dashboard that pointed left with the word ”Left” on them. This was to help remind everyone to stay on the left side of the road.

When I got to St Croix we were in the process of closing the operation down. In the warehouse we were palatalizing equipment to be shipped back to the states. As you can see from the picture we had to sanitize all the cot canvases before they could be shipped. We were also distributing extra food & clothing to churches around the island. The local Chapter had three cargo containers that they used for storage that we had to re-supply with cots and other supplies. I only spent 11 days in the in St Croix before the operation was closed down.