Hurricane, earthquake effects ripple across the country to SPA

In the past month there have been numerous natural disasters, including four hurricanes and an earthquake. While the physical damage of these disasters was relatively isolated to the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico, the results of the hurricanes have affected some students in the community. Hurricane Harvey hit Texas on Aug. 25, and was a category 4 hurricane. The effects were massive, with 30,000 people evacuated from the state of Texas, 49,000 home with flood damages and 17 casualties.

Junior Zoe Hermer-Cisek lived in Texas until the age of eleven, and still has friends and family there. She went through Hurricane Ike in September 2008 while living in Texas and understands the experience of those facing Hurricane Harvey.

“It was pretty fine for my family; we planned ahead and we were all okay. It’s not the hurricane itself where you’re in danger for the most part; it’s right after. Because everything is kind of destroyed but you’re coming back into areas that aren’t safe if you evacuated,” Hermer-Cisek said.

Hermer-Cisek also has a brother who lives in Florida. He had to flee to family in Maryland until Hurricane Irma passed. Hurricane Irma hit the southeast coast of the United States, causing significant flooding in Florida, but before it made land in the United States, the storm passed through the Caribbean, killing several dozen people from the Caribbean Islands. 7 million people were advised to evacuate, 6.4 million from Florida. Senior Sorcha Ashe and her family opened their home to one such evacuee from Florida.

“She and her mother went to the airport trying to leave, and of course there were a lot of other people trying to leave last minute. Only my friend could get on the flight, so she stayed with us for a few days while her mother tried to get out of Florida,” Ashe said.

Though students at SPA are not affected by the rain and flood damage first hand, they experience the effects second hand as they witness the struggles and journeys of so many displaced people, from parts of the country hit so hard by the massive storms..

As weather reports continue to release new information about the earthquake in Mexico on Sept. 19 and new details on Hurricane Maria surface, students will continue coming together as part of support network for their friends and family all around the nation.