Ombudsman Sharon Roulstone and her family escaped serious harm after two sea grape trees came crashing down on their vehicles and a part of their George Town home during Tuesday’s gale-force winds.
The two large trees, one of which has been there for over 30 years and had survived Hurricane Ivan in 2004, were uprooted by the winds.
Roulstone, speaking with the Cayman Compass Wednesday via telephone, said around 4:30am on Tuesday morning, she heard the wind howling.
She hadn’t realised what had happened until her sister Shirley, called, asking “Have you seen your front yard?”.
Roulstone said she went to her daughter’s room to look outside and was greeted by a “horrendous” sight.
“The big tree that we had in the front yard was in her window. So I ran outside and there was another tree down and it covered the cars that were in the driveway…. covered them. I mean, I could see the front bumper of one car and that was about all,” she said.
She said she went outside, but couldn’t get between the vehicles to assess what had happened.
The Cayman Islands experienced near-gale-force winds Monday through Tuesday as a pressure gradient across the North West Caribbean and a cold front brought rough seas and wave heights of near 15 feet into the Cayman area and winds with high gusts.
All three islands were impacted by the weather conditions.
‘This was a real doozy’
The longtime George Town resident said seeing the trees engulf her cars was unbelievable.
“I have seen nor’westers that are bad, but … this was a real doozy. I mean, it’s been decades since I’ve seen a storm like this,” she said.
She said she was saddened by the loss of the trees, as they had been on the family property for as long as she remembers and she always marveled at how they survived on solid ground.
She described how moving the trees off the vehicles posed a serious challenge.
“We had a horticulturist come and help us try to trim the limbs away from the tree… because, of course the weight could continue to crush [the cars]. He said he just could not imagine the power of the wind that uprooted the trees,” she said.
Roulstone said she spent all day thinking their vehicles would be a total loss.
However, to her surprise, that was not the case.
“When I got home [Tuesday] evening, I could not believe it. I mean, God is merciful, because, for three cars that were completely covered up with huge trees, there was only one casualty and that was a small dent [on the truck bed] and one rear light broken. But everything else, nothing else was touched. It was miraculous, to be honest,” she said.
She added there was still a huge mess to clean.
Roulstone said she was grateful it had all happened when everyone was safely indoors, including her dogs, as her pets are usually under the trees hanging out during the day.
“If I had seen that thing coming down on the cars, it would have been pretty terrorising. It just shows the power of nature… it’s nothing to play with and it’s something that we have to respect. Mother Nature will always have the final say,” she added.
There were other reports of trees being uprooted along the Esterley Tibbetts Highway in the vicinity of the Camana Bay roundabout.
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