Days 280 – 284 (8/23 -27)

Thursday – We’re still watching Tropical Storm Isaac and trying to guess where it’s going to track across the island. Right now it looks like it’s moving a little to the west of Port-au-Prince more toward Petit Goave. We contacted our Louisiana team in Leveque which is to the north east and asked them what they would like to do. The storm is definitely tracking away from them, but they elected to come back to the Guest House to ride it out. In the meantime, work goes on at the Guest House.

Friday – The Leveque team is back at the Guest House and looking for something to keep them busy, so I got them to help clean up the area. The less stuff we have blowing around in the storm, the better off we will be. The storm is still tracking to the west of us and is predicted to hit sometime late tonight or tomorrow morning. Other than a few scattered clouds, there is no sign of an impending storm this morning.

This afternoon there is a slight breeze and more clouds, but still plenty of sunshine. The team has finished the clean-up and is sanding and primering the ceilings and walls in some of the guest rooms.

As we headed for bed the wind was picking up and it was starting to rain.

Saturday – Got woken up by the wind and rain pounding on the metal roof. The clock showed 2:00 A.M. – Isaac is here. I laid awake for a while and listened to the wind. It was blowing pretty good, but I estimated that it was probably blowing at about 40 mph with occasional gusts to maybe 50. Not too bad and it didn’t seem to be increasing. The rain was wind-blown, of course, but not coming down in buckets like it sometimes does. So – I decided it was nothing to worry about and went back to sleep.

I got up around 6:00 A.M. and took a walk around the campus - lots of leaves and branches on the ground, no trees down and no apparent damage to any of the buildings. The new drainage canal did its’ job and we had no flooding or water damage. Our team from Louisiana, having lived through Katrina, took it all in stride. After breakfast I got them busy painting rooms. They are supposed to fly out tomorrow, but all flights have been cancelled. They may be spending a few extra days.

Needless to say, we have no power, internet or cell phone service this morning. We cranked up the generator and started watching local TV reports to see how the rest of the country made it through the storm. As predicted the center of the storm swung to the west of us and hit Jacmel, Leogane, Petit Goave and Jeremy pretty hard. There are also reports of property damage and lots of crop damage up in Furcy. All of the rivers are flooded and lots of damage reported from wind, flooding and mud slides in the western regions. The reports of deaths are filtering in.

Sunday – Still no power or internet this morning. We do have cell service, but only in-country. International calls are not getting out. The Louisiana team called American Airlines and were told the soonest that they could get out was Sept. 6^th – 1 week from now. Since the reports on Isaac indicate that it is now a Category 1 Hurricane and picking up strength a back nd heading for New Orleans, they are very concerned and wanting to get home. A couple of team members plan to go to the airport tomorrow and stand in line and see if there is any possibility of securing an earlier flight.

The official death toll so far is 19.

Monday – We had power for a couple of hours this morning, but still no internet or international cell service. Johnny took a couple of the Louisiana team to the airport and dropped them off in a mob scene - 100s of people trying to get out of Haiti. Tom and Danette were on the cell phone to them and they said they wanted to tough it out and try to get to the counter.

Most of the work force showed up today, so we were pretty much back to business as usual at the Guest House. Later in the afternoon we got a call from the airport and our team members finally got to the counter and talked with an agent, but had no luck. September 6^th seems to be the soonest they can get out on a commercial flight. I went with Johnny to pick them up at the airport, but had him drop me off at MSC, a large building supply place near the airport so that I could pick up some building material. By the time he returned from picking them up, I had all the material ready to be loaded. The Kia 4x4 was loaded to the gills.

Apparently the cell service is a little better by the airport because the 2 team members were able to make international calls from there. One of the guys is an executive with a large company and when he told them he wouldn’t be able to get back for another week they said that it was imperative that he be back for an important meeting and that they would charter a jet and send it down to pick-up the team tomorrow - must be nice. The bad news is that they are closing down the New Orleans airport tomorrow because of Isaac and they’ll have to fly to Tampa and rent a van and drive the rest of the way. It makes for a long trip, but it will get them home.