Cayman Brac dodged a bullet, a senior Cayman Islands Regiment officer deployed to the island for Hurricane Rafael said on Wednesday.
Major Kevin Price, who led the team dispatched to the Sister Islands as the storm hit the Brac, said the reservists were involved in clearing roads after the storm had passed, but there was little damage caused to buildings, although Little Cayman had been hit hard.
Price added, “The people on Cayman Brac have been through a number of storms with high, sustained winds and heavy rain. We were expecting a lot more damage than we found.
“We were all surprised that the island had missed a really heavy blow.”
He said, “There were a number of trees and branches that littered the roads. The high road, that runs over the spine of the bluff, had a lot of debris on it.”
The power company’s expected damage to the electricity network from fallen trees and branches and downed poles had not materialised, he said, although there were some very localised problems.
Reservists were deployed to both islands in the run-up to the storm, with four on Little Cayman and 12 on the Brac.
Price said that four extra reservists had been earmarked for the Little Cayman squad, but had been unable to get there, so they joined the Brac team instead.
The troops also helped prepare a government shelter and were on standby to clear floodwater from the island’s airport, but the drainage system had coped.
He said the deployment – the first by the regiment to the Sister Islands under crisis conditions – had been valuable.
Price, a former regular officer in the British Army’s Duke of Wellington Regiment, later one of the regiments that made up the Yorkshire Regiment, added that the team had provided reassurance to Brackers.
He said, “People saw the regiment working with their local agencies, which built trust in us. I think we were received well by the local community.
“In the shelter we were at, there were people from Faith Hospital and the care home. They saw reservists from the regiment they had read about, but never seen. In terms of messaging, I do think it was positive.”
Price added, “Just the physical presence of uniformed personnel is reassuring to people.
“We felt very welcome, and certainly the partner agencies were very supportive of us.”
He insisted the regiment would not rest on its laurels and would incorporate lessons learned from the experience in the Sister Islands to improve future operations.
He said the team felt a sense of satisfaction after deploying to help the public as they were trained to do.
Price said, “I think the sense of professional fulfilment as a reservist was certainly there. We were prepared to have done more, but we did what was asked of us and what was needed, so there is a sense of satisfaction.”
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