Hurricane Matthew Update

In the construction plans of the Vila-de-Woz church created by SONBEAM International, we used what many considered to be an excessive amount of trusses.  By God's grace, this paid off when Hurricane Matthew struck.

Dear friends, family and supporters,

As I write to you, the rain from Hurricane Matthew is steadily coming down since yesterday—so for over 24 hours, thus flooding is inevitable in some areas of Haiti.  I am wearing a fleece jacket because it is cool—this is very rare for me in Haiti.  Yesterday I made some yummy homemade hot chocolate for our family to warm them up from the inside.  We have closed our office and are at home.  The airports in Haiti are closed.   We have personally had minimal damage so far, but southern Haiti has been and is being hit hard.  Also, the rain is continuing to fall and we have had variable wind strength. 

Hurricane Matthew hit the far western tip near the village of Les Anglais in Haiti around sunrise this morning as a Category 4 hurricane with 7-10 foot storm surge, 140 mph winds, and torrential rains.  Communication is difficult or impossible in many places in the Grand Anse and South Department of Haiti which received a direct hit.  Essentially, the effects of the hurricane are worst moving from east to west on Haiti’s south peninsula.  Much of the greater Port-au-Prince area seems to have been spared, though it is still raining very heavily and flash flooding is an ongoing danger (we’ve had about 4-5 in of rain at my house).  Most of our employees have been contacted and are doing fine.  There is no reason to believe that those we haven’t been able to contact are in danger.  We had no power in Port-au-Prince last night and cell phones will soon be discharged for those without generators.

Our Sous Espwa office has not sustained any significant damage and hopefully will be put to use tomorrow.

We contacted several people from areas more seriously affected by Matthew.  It was difficult for us to have a conversation because of the winds, but we understood that many houses with wood trusses and tin roofs have been heavily damaged.  We have heard second hand reports about flooding in Les Cayes, a larger city near the path of the hurricane. 

We found out that the Vila de Woz church near Les Cayes that we recently helped to build in concert with SONBEAM International is the only building in the entire community that still has a roof.  Apparently all the inhabitants of Vila-de-Woz are now inside, safe from the high winds and torrential downpours.  See the attached picture of a ministry event that Sharon attended inside the new Vila-de-Woz church in 2014.

It may be sometime before we get an accurate picture of the damage since cell phone networks are not functional in some areas.  After the hurricane passes and we have a better idea of what the results of this storm are, we will try to send an update.