Barri Bethel Thomas Coping With Cheating Death But Losing Her Family

The East End village of McLeans Town is on the opposite site of Grand Bahama, it is a popular jumping-off point for fishing in the shallow waters. Established in 1972, this beautiful island town is the farthest settlement in the East that can be reached by road, and consists of two roughly parallel roads. The North road boasts a couple of bars; the South road borders Carrion Crow Harbor. All in all, a beautiful piece of paradise.

On September 1, 2019, this East End Grand Bahama paradise, was eradicated by Hurricane Dorian. Many today refer to Dorian as a Category 6, for those of you are not familiar with storms, this is considered a hurricane on steroids. With wind gusts of over 200mph and storm surge of 23 feet, McLeans Town was under its siege for nearly 48 hours.

Not only was this was not looking good for McLeans Town it was not looking good for one family - the Thomas family. Like so many others, Barri Thomas and her family were flung from their home into the deadly ocean by the dreadful forces. After surviving three nights at the mercy of the seas, Barri Thomas was airlifted to the Princess Margret Hospital in Nassau on September 4th, 2019 she was hospitalized for two weeks. Her husband and three children were never to be seen again. Today we highlight the story of Barri Thomas a woman of great resilience, determination and courage who is trying desperately to pick up herself after suffering one of the greatest loss a woman could suffer in a single lifetime.

Barronrette, Barri as she’s affectionately called is the wife of Phil (PJ) Thomas Jr., mother to sons Mateo and Tidal and daughter Ramielle. The Thomas family lived in Mcleans Town, East End Grand Bahama. On the day in question, as the tidal surge rose over the house, the boat they had sought refuge in capsized. The emotions that wells up in response to such a traumatic experience is unimaginable by someone who’s never swam in an ocean, much less being unwillingly and forcefully trapped for days. It’s been a year since Hurricane Dorian claimed the lives of her husband, daughter and two sons. The lingering physical injuries, although in need of attention, pales in comparison to this unfathomable pain. She now pushes forward each day to rebuild her life, despite, like many other Bahamians who lost loved ones. What makes this a daily dose of pain is that, her family is considered “missing” not dead.

Bahamian law requires a person to be missing for seven years before a death certificate can be issued. As government officials promise to shorten this time, the reality is, they have failed the Thomas family. After, surviving what her family did not, Barri must relive this trauma daily as she and her attorney petitions the courts, to get what is rightfully hers; her family’s death certificates.

To add insult to injury, here comes 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic. Barri had to spend months in isolation due to Covid-19 lockdowns which disrupted the fight for the DNA results of her family remains.

Bahamas is no stranger to hurricanes. Powerful Hurricanes have been a part of the Bahamas throughout their history. Almost routinely, they come, they go and the naturally resilient Bahamians pick up the pieces and rebuild every time. However, Dorian was different. With sustained winds of over 185MPH, it far surpassed the 156MPH sustained winds required to be classified as a category 5 hurricane. The nightmare and devastation were unimaginable.

As if this was not unimaginable enough, the bank that Barri and her husband purchased their house from, botched the transaction which has left her indebted as a widow. Barri who once had everything now needs money to repair her house, for legal fees, and to regain some sense of normalcy again. To follow and support Barri go to: www.barriandthesix.com