[ot-caption title=”Hurricane Matthew captured through a window causing serious damage in Florida. (via, Saumya Jain, sophomore)”]

Over the first week of October, Hurricane Matthew slammed parts of the southeast of the United States and island nations in the Caribbean. It was the first major hurricane to strike these areas in a while, and for Florida, the first major storm since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. It started out as a tropical storm in the Caribbean Sea and developed into a more dangerous hurricane that was a Category 3 and Category 4 at different points in its trajectory. Its targets in America included Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and in the Caribbean it mainly hit Haiti, the Bahamas, and Cuba. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

This massive natural disaster resulted in over 1,000 fatalities and caused flooding, loss of electricity, house damage, etc. This storm was life threatening and forced at least 2 million people to evacuate their homes and towns as soon as possible. The governors of the states affected also warned and reinforced the possible threat of this hurricane. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Pine Crest junior Saagar Jain explained how he and his family prepared for this hurricane.

“We had to prepare for the worst with extra food, water, clothes, batteries, etc. Another tedious aspect of preparation was putting up shutters and removing patio furniture. Luckily, we weren’t affected by this hurricane, but I wish the best for everyone that was,” Saagar said. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

In Haiti alone, the damage will cost more than $1 billion. Already impoverished from past natural disasters, Haiti’s houses, livestock, roofs, buildings, and most places were destroyed due to the challenging wind and rain. Chuck Watons, a disaster modeler with Enki Research, claims that the storm damage could cost about $25 billion in America as well. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Most Pine Crest students are lucky not to have faced severe damage because Hurricane Matthew hit harder in northern Florida, starting as south as Vero Beach. Sophomore Jabari Owens expressed his concern on the storm.

“I know some communities in the Caribbean and in some parts of America were devastated by this storm, and I hope that they can recover soon,” Jabari said. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

In the Pine Crest community, all departments are catching up on the two missed days on Thursday and Friday, October 6 and 7. While there was no school on Thursday, October 6, many sports teams, fine arts programs, and other extracurriculars were affected from Wednesday to Sunday. Pine Crest issued a statement Tuesday night, October 4th, that all after school activities were to be cancelled starting on Wednesday, October 5th; this included activities both inside, like play rehearsal, and outside, like sports practices.

The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams were expected to travel to Tallahassee to compete in the Pre-State Invitational at Florida State University on Saturday, October 8. The girls’ team brought home the gold last year from this meet, but this year they could not compete because of the weather conditions. Senior Simone Vreeland shares her dismay about not being able to attend the big race.

“The girls were very disappointed that we could not run at the Pre-State meet in Tallahassee due to our safety with the hurricane, but we are working harder than ever to come back in November [for States] with PRs,” Simone said.

Unfortunately, this may not be the end of our hurricane troubles this year as another storm, Nicole, could be on it’s way.  However, right now what is important is that the recovery process is beginning to reduce the damage of Matthew. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Sources: CNN, USA today, WFAA, ABC News, Marketplace