irene is scheduled to pass through turks and caicos tomorrow (tuesday) at 8pm local time. it was a tropical storm and has been upgraded to a category one hurricane. i’ve never before experienced a hurricane so didn’t quite know how “things work”, and this is how it’s been so far;

the island was packed this morning, there was traffic everywhere, believe me this is so unusual, momentarilly i felt i was in a city! most petrol stations were closed as they ran out of petrol and the ones still open had neverending cues. we were advised to keep everything inside the house, furniture, bbq’s and anything that could fly with the wind, to make sure it will not make any damages. luckily our place has hurricane proof windows so we don’t need to board them up and our home is a safe shelter. our mobile company texted us advising to top up our phones, in case we have to do without internet and phone connection for a couple of days. we are also advised to stock up our pantry, staple food and water. ships with food containers for hotels and supermarkets will probably not be coming on island on the next days, the flights have been canceled and the airport is closed.unfortunately not everyone has a safe home – some hotels welcome their staff and families to shelter safely at work.

more on hurricane irene here