Caribbean eyewitness: From lush islands to 'brown wastelands'

U.S. Coast Guard officer is on the front lines of Caribbean hurricane relief efforts

By Scott Pickering
Posted 9/22/17

Bristol native Alex Hamel has had front-row seats to two of the most powerful and damaging hurricanes to have slammed the Caribbean this century — first Irma, and now Maria. Commander of a U.S. Coast Guard ship stationed in Puerto Rico, Lt. Hamel and his crew have been working for weeks in and around the U.S. Virgin Islands. They have delivered food and supplies, rescued stranded tourists, provided securty, and assessed infrastructure and damages.

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Caribbean eyewitness: From lush islands to 'brown wastelands'

U.S. Coast Guard officer is on the front lines of Caribbean hurricane relief efforts

Posted

Bristol native Alex Hamel has had front-row seats to two of the most powerful and damaging hurricanes to have slammed the Caribbean this century — first Irma, and now Maria. Commander of U.S. Coast Guard cutter Yellowfin, stationed in Puerto Rico, Lt. Hamel and his crew have been working for weeks in and around the U.S. Virgin Islands. They have delivered food and supplies, rescued stranded tourists, provided securty, and assessed infrastructure and damages.

Lt. Hamel is a 2009 gradaute of LaSalle Academy and 2013 gradaute of the Coast Guard Academy. He is the son of Bob and Camille Hamel of Bristol.

Able to communicate sporadically via email, Lt. Hamel answered questions and shared photos of what they've seen the past two weeks.

Following are his words:

“My apologies for such a late response. Hurricane Maria forced us out of Puerto Rico, and the last couple days have been a little overwhelming. I wrote most of this before we had to jet to Curacao, so it's a few days old.”

Q. What have you been doing?

“Since Irma passed through the region, Yellowfin has been working extensively with other Coast Guard units and partner agencies to provide relief efforts for the U.S. Virgin Islands. St. Thomas and St. John were heavily damaged by the storm, and we have been working to carry relief supplies, conduct port assessments, transport government officials, evacuate stranded residents/tourists, and re-establish a law enforcement presence in the area.

“Other U.S. Coast Guard Cutters stationed in San Juan assisting with the relief efforts are Donald Horsley, Joseph Napier, Heriberton Hernandez and Joseph Tezanos. Additionally, USCGC Valiant, homeported in Jacksonville, Fla., is a larger 210-ft. cutter leading relief efforts for the cutter fleet. Air station Borinquen, P.R., is also providing assistance with their fleet of Coast Guard helicopters. Other agencies heavily involved are FEMA, VITEMA (Virgin Islands Territory Emergency Management Agency), Customs and Border Patrol, USVI PD and FD, and other branches of the armed forces to include the U.S. Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and National Guard. A couple of highlights for Yellowfin specifically:

• Loaded over 13,000 pounds of food, water, and relief supplies in Christiansted, St Croix, and delivered the load to Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas.

• Conducted a port assessment and established a law enforcement presence in Coral Bay, St John, and acted as a communications hub for the stranded community.

• Assisted Valiant and three other San Juan cutters with the evacuation of 99 tourists and 13 pets from St John. 

• Transported U.S. Army, Coast Guard, and CPB personnel between Puerto Rico and St Thomas / St John. Evacuated two civilian families to Puerto Rico. 

• Acted as a communications relay between members of the USVI Fire Department and Police department to respond to a house fire on the east end of St John.”

Q. What is the extent of the damage you've seen?

“Patrolling from the water, we have mostly seen the conditions of ports, harbors, and shore-side communities. St. John was hit hardest, and only houses made of concrete are still intact. Most wooden homes and structures were heavily damaged or destroyed. Almost all vessels that were moored or anchored in the area are washed ashore or fully/partially submerged.

“Communications and electricity are not available on St John, and are intermittent on St Thomas. One community in Coral Bay, St John had no form of communication for days following the storm and was not accessible by road due to fallen trees and debris.

"The dominating image, however, is the sight of every tree and piece of foliage stripped of its leaves and branches. The once emerald-colored islands were reduced to brown wastelands more akin to the peaks in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, than tropical, Caribbean mountains.”

Q. What is the scale of the piracy and threats to safety?

“Officially, the Coast Guard did not receive any formal reports of piracy. The piracy reports have been unsourced and unverified. Looting and petty crime in urban areas has been common, but as far as water-born threats go, we have not responded to any reports or requests for assistance associated with piracy.”

Q. How have people responded to your efforts?

“The response has been very positive. We pulled into Christiansted to load relief supplies, and there were 40-plus people on the pier eager to help and waiting to unpack pallets and load up the ship. Just the presence of a cutter in Coral Bay was enough for the residents to know that someone was watching and that they weren’t completely cut off.

“All those people that were stuck on St John were very grateful as well. Even when we weren’t actively involved in an operation, the goal was to ‘wave the flag’ and show that we were in the area. We didn’t have the impact that larger units had like U.S.S. Kearsage, U.S.S. Oak Hill, FEMA, and the National Guard, but the white ships with the orange stripes were at minimum just one more indication that help was in the area.”

“Finally, as far as Hurricane Maria goes, we haven’t seen any of those impacts yet. All the above info was for Irma, but it's all going to be easily eclipsed by Maria.”

Lt. Alex Hamel

Commanding Officer

USCGC YELLOWFIN (WPB 87319)

San Juan, P.R.

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