D
uring the first days of September, as Hurricane Dorian roared through The Bahamas, Cori and Rodney Curry made the decision not to evacuate their Green Turtle Cay home. Lifelong residents of the small barrier island near the mainland of Abaco, the Currys believed that since the island didn’t normally flood like the mainland, they wouldn’t have a flooding issue. “We knew our island; we built strong,” Cori Curry says. “Where they tried to evacuate us, that’s where all the people were killed [during Dorian evacuations to Abaco Island, where there were 51 fatalities]. We knew we were better prepared.” The Currys were trapped in the house for three days as winds howled around their home. They rode out the eerie calm of the eye wall. Dorian massed its effects over Green Turtle Cay from the beginning of the storm through to the end. The wind pressure was so great they could see the walls of the house contorting. They heard other roofs slam into their house where they were hunkered down with 13 other family members. Cori and Rodney pushed a dining room table and some bunk beds against the walls. On the first day, their roof blew off. They estimate approximately 12 tornadoes touched down on the island and the Currys believe the winds reached at least 200 mph.
The extended effects of the storm began to wear on the children. “I’ve been in a lot of hurricanes…not too scary. But I was scared this time,” Rodney Curry shares about his birthplace and home. “When I saw the roof went off, I knew it was gonna be bad. These kids were freaking out, too. They were shouting ‘I don’t wanna die!’” The Curry children, twin boys Sean and Anthony, and their cousins, Makayden and Makai Cash, recall the storm with a lingering sense of anxiety. “The storm, Dorian, it was torture,” Makayden Cash, 9, explains, still processing the impact a tragedy like this has on a child’s innocent nature. “It was a lot of wind.” “It was traumatizing,” Sean Curry, 12, adds. “It wasn’t a regular storm for sure,” Makai Cash, 15, offers. “That wasn’t a category 5, maybe a 7.” When the hurricane was over, the Curry parents decided they had to get the kids out. The catastrophic storm destroyed their food and emergency supplies. There was no power anywhere on the island and resources were scarce. The Currys connected with their godparents, Ocala residents Frankie Nicholson and Kathryn Hoppel. Nicholson has owned property on Green Turtle Cay for 16 years and is associated with the Green Turtle Cay Foundation. Through the
foundation and a benefactor, Cori Curry, her two sons and two nephews were able to evacuate the island to Ocala. “Kathryn stayed in touch with Rodney and Cori on when to expect me to pick them up,” Nicholson says. “We knew Cori was coming with the kids and that Rodney would come later.” Nicholson flew to the Bahamas with the president of the Green Turtle Cay Foundation, along with supplies and a team of doctors and medicines, to begin basic rescue efforts on the island. A benefactor donated the use of his jet. “At the time, so many people were trying to get out,” Nicholson says about the emergency immigration process. “We were so lucky we could fly them back. Customs was kind, though it took a while to get through as much documentation was lost or there was no way to get it.” In the weeks since the Curry family has relocated to Ocala, the children have enrolled in public schools and have joined sports teams. They have assimilated well into a community much different than their own. Makai Cash says that although it’s a relief to be in Ocala, it’s been quite an adjustment. “Before the storm, it was good. You could walk around anywhere,” he explains and the other boys nod their agreement. “You just had to let your parents know.”
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