Another Tragedy Strikes Port-au-Prince

You never know what is going to happen from moment to moment anywhere, especially in Haiti. Today started off like any normal beautiful, sunny day. We traveled to Port-au-Prince to take care of some business affairs, meeting with some important people about donating an ambulance and a fire engine to the police department. We arrived at our last meeting of the day looking forward to making a new contact with someone involved in the Haitian government. It was very hot and humid throughout the day so we were grateful to sit in an air conditioned office, even though the building was under construction. As our meeting progressed and we were having conversation with this important gentleman we noticed it started to get very dark outside, but thought nothing of it because it was getting along in the evening. Soon after that there were large gusts of winds that became very strong as they rattled the windows that we were sitting next to and soon the rains began to beat upon the window as well. Then in a matter of minutes, we gazed out the window and the gentleman said I believe this is a hurricane. In a moments notice, a large tower antenna came crashing down on a car right outside the window seeming looking as if it was going to come through window, bursting the window out of the car.

Due to the earthquake tragedy that we just experienced, everyone was on high alert and jumped up out of their seats to run out of the building. Patricia Curtis even said, “We need to get out of this building now!!” As the rain started leaking inside the building, with the gusts of winds, we stood close to the door, not sure whether we were safer inside or out, and not sure what our next step should be. The wind continued as the rain ferociously pounded down and the lightning lit up the darkened sky. Trees all over the area came down along with big signs, causing traffic to be even worse then a normal Port-au-Prince traffic jam. People were rushing to get a tap-tap, looking for a way to escape the chaos.

Eventually the rains and the wind started calming down, although it continued to drizzle. As we drove away, praising God for our safety, we saw that the streets were flooded and trees were down everywhere.

We saw many tents torn apart and destroyed. The streets earlier in the day had been filled with marketing supplies and after driving through that area we’re sure much damage was caused to their merchandise. We had planned to buy school books and we were so thankful that we didn’t already have them in the back of the truck because they would have been destroyed. All we can say at the end of this day is praise God for safety and for watching over us and allowing us to return back to the mission safe.