Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/6264/-1/135/
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WAKE UP CALL FOR ANGUILLA Life Quickly Returning To Normal
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Tell-tale signs on vegetation, some scars on the infrastructure and severe erosion of beaches in Anguilla, bear evidence of the swift passage of Hurricane Omar with sustained winds of approximately 73 miles per hour and gusts of 80 mph in the early hours of Thursday, October 15.
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Two of the cargo vessels forced onto the beach at Road Bay
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The category 3 hurricane, packing winds of some 115 mph, approached Anguilla from a westerly direction, but the island was fortunate to escape its full fury and Omar was eventually downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed out into the Atlantic.
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Scene at Road Bay, Sandy Ground
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At Queen Elizabeth Avenue where beautiful Ficus trees took a severe battering and road covered by flood water
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A release from the Chief Minister’s Office reported that the passage of the hurricane resulted in minor damage to the island’s housing and that there was minimum impact on the physical plant of the tourism infrastructure. “A number of trees were uprooted due to the soft soil that resulted from many days of rain prior to the hurricane,” the release stated. “This condition, coupled with the high winds that traversed the island, made the toppling of large vegetation a relatively easy feat for Hurricane Omar…” The Government was pleased to report that it was anticipated that there would not be any major disruption of the early start of the tourist season.
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Scenes at Road Bay, Sandy Ground
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Scene at the Arawak Beach Resort at Island Harbour
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An accurate and comprehensive assessment of the damage done to Anguilla by Hurricane Omar is being undertaken by the National Disaster Management Committee and the Statistics Department. It is hoped that the Government may be able to obtain some financial assistance under an insurance arrangement from outside the island.
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Clearing blocked road at Crocus Bay
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Scene at the Arawak Beach Resort at Island Harbour
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Three cargo boats, two yachts and two other vessels were washed ashore at Road Bay, Sandy Ground, where seaweed covered a portion of the beach and most of the sand receded into the sea; the small jetty at Johnno’s used by the police was damaged; at Blowing Point, the service jetty on the far left was damaged allegedly as a result of loose poles from the Dolphin project that washed ashore and destroyed the fencing and fenders of the jetty. The action of the sea broke away a portion of the concrete from the platform at the jetty area.
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Beach Erosion at Crocus Bay
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Sail boat Eagle and trailor overturned at Island Harbour
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At Island Harbour, two villas at the Arawak Beach Resort lost their top apartments; a “Starline Boat” overturned and remained above water for some time; the Eagle sailboat overturned with its trailer on its hull; a truck was also overturned and; a container below St. Andrew’s Anglican Church was thrown some fifty feet away; the roof of one of the school buildings was damaged (presumably by water); three electricity poles were thrown down and at East End a high voltage pole came down. In the western areas of the island, some minor damage was done by the sea and wind to a few accommodation facilities, restaurants and the coastline.
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Scene at Church of God (Holiness) at Queen Elizabeth Avenue
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Fishing vessel partly submerged at Island Harbour
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Life is now returning to normal in Anguilla and the Government and the Department of Disaster Management have offered their thanks to all persons and organisations on the island for coming together to assist in the restoration of the island.
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Fallen high-tension pole at East End
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Boat casualty at Blowing Point
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Above are some of the many scenes of damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Omar.