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Valrico woman lives to tell about Irma's fury in St. Thomas

 
Sara Battaglia, center, poses with the resort staff members who helped her endure Hurricane Irma while vacationing in St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Photo courtesy of Sara Battaglia.
Sara Battaglia, center, poses with the resort staff members who helped her endure Hurricane Irma while vacationing in St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Photo courtesy of Sara Battaglia.
Published Sept. 16, 2017

Editor's note: Like so many Tampa Bay residents, local dance instructor Sara Battaglia endured Hurricane Irma last week. However, the experience for Battaglia, director of the Dancing for Donations charity dance classes in Brandon, was a bit different. She survived Irma while vacationing in St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We asked her to share her thoughts on her unforgettable Irma experience.

We were supposed to fly out of St. Thomas on Sept. 5 at about 2 p.m.

Spirit Airlines canceled our flight the night before — Spirit was the only airline to cancel their flights for that day — and that left us stranded before Irma hit.

No one could do anything for us, except offer a flight the day after the storm, so we prepared. We prepared just like we would have in Florida: water, non-perishable food, buckets of water, and a mattress fort inside our resort room.

Irma struck on Sept. 6. It was frightening for sure. The building was shaking, howling winds, gutters ripped off the building, loud crashes. The ceiling cracked and started leaking.

After the storm, there was no electricity, no running water, absolutely no cell service or Internet, and limited food.

The day after the storm, the resort staff and guests worked hard cleaning up walk ways and roads. We were able to be fed two meals a day by the resort. They provided us with glow sticks, drinking water, and advised us not to leave the resort property.

Safety is also much different. Similar to Florida, people were looting. However, it proved much worse. A few days after the storm, we got limited power and people were becoming very desperate. The resort doubled their security staff as uninvited guests were starting to come into the property, realizing that we had food, water and a bit of power.

We were extremely lucky, we were staying in a resort built for strong hurricanes. Most houses in St. Thomas were not built for something like a Category 5 hurricane. Many were completely torn apart or gone.

Floridians, including myself, are complaining about not having power for a week or two, whereas St. Thomas probably won't have full power for about 10 months to a year. After a storm, we generally have cell service. All of their towers were down there. We had to climb to the top of a mountain just to receive a few texts messages.

These people don't have anywhere to evacuate to, obviously. It's an island. It's not just a car ride away from home.

Ports for boats were not even open for a few days after the storm, making supplies limited. The airport there, I believe is still not operational.

The management was amazing and cared for us. On Sept. 11, almost a week later, they put us (200 guests from our property and about 60 from another property) on boats to get to Puerto Rico. While we were there, resort guests and staff became like family. We all had to work together in order to get things done, provide for each other, and just keep spirits lifted. The resort staff said, "We may be broken, but our spirits aren't."

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We flew out of Puerto Rick on the afternoon of Sept. 13 and arrived Tampa at 2 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 14.

This vacation was definitely one I will never forget. The friendships that we've made on the trip are unbreakable. We now have a group on Facebook to stay connected to each other and have a "YouCaring" page to raise money for the staff that took such great care of us.

It definitely humbled me to have an experience like that.

I will always appreciate warm food, cold air, clean water, and simple communication to my family much, much more.