Mr. Brent Lowe, a blind man from Abaco, tells the story of how he and his disabled son were able to survive Hurricane Dorian. Mr. Lowe said, “that was scary, I wish I never ever have to go through something like that again in my life.”
Lowe’s son is 27 years old and has cerebral palsy. He, Lowe and their caretaker were at home as the Category 5 storm began. Mr. Lowe’s says that “when it started you just could tell by the intensity it wasn’t a regular storm. It was…the whole house just was vibrating. I was in like a stone building but the floor was shuttering, the wall was just shuttering and I could keep hearing the roof lift and drop back down.”
As the eye of the storm passed, Mr. Lowe recalls that “it seem like it came back with even more force than it was before. That’s when I realized we should have done something when the eye passed, like leaving but the thing about it they tried to leave but the roads and everything was so flooded you couldn’t get passed.” Mr. Lowes further recounted how he placed his son on his shoulders and made his way to a neighbour’s house.
After the passage of the storm, Lowe left Abaco and returned a year later. He says that he was “surprised to know how many new businesses and how many people were here. I was not expecting it to be as built up as it was and as of now we’re pretty much back to normal.”
Lowe says that he is happy that people are getting back into their homes and getting back into their normal lives. He has now moved into an efficiency apartment and hopes to get a home for himself and his son.
