Heidi Badenock starts to worry whenever it rains or winds blow.
“It's just the result of going through life-changing things,” the 35-year-old lawyer said.
Life-changing events took place on July 1, 2024. Badenock is one of the 3.5 square mile Caribbean islands (9.1 square kilometers) in her family home on Union Island, one of the 32 islands and Cays in the southern Caribbean. Category 4 Hurricane Greenland Riverside River water drove into the island with a sustained wind of 150 mph (241 km/h) and left the island, with its structure above, its people destroyed. Beryl later became a Category 5 hurricane, the earliest record-breaking Atlantic Ocean, which was a 100-fold increase in the likelihood of ocean temperature due to climate change.
Badenock's family was shrouded under the bed and closet space as part of the roof was torn open and the windows broke, allowing gallons of water to enter the house, almost drowning Baden's father. Once the storm subsides and the family comes out of their hiding place, they are shocked by the reality around them.
All the houses around the house have torn the roof off. Debris scattered everywhere, trees were flattened, and what was once rural now turned brown, the result of the ocean air torn in vegetation.
Displaced people
A year later, the island has not yet fully recovered.
According to a World Bank report, the storm caused $230 million in economic losses, causing direct economic damage to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, accounting for 22% of the country's GDP in 2023. The losses suffered in the southern Grenadines, including Union Island, totaled $186.8 million (USD), accounting for 81% of the total national losses caused by the hurricane.
“I think it's possible – if I'm going to be generous, 75% of the houses have roofs again,” Bardak said. “I mean, after this destruction, everything is erased and it takes a while to get back to where I can live to some extent.”
While houses and other important infrastructure such as schools and clinics are recovering, the psychological and cultural impact of this storm will be lasting. Bardock said that like most Caribbeans, the Grenadines' people have always been proud of their self-reliance and resilience, but “I lost a lot of things at once, and I think it weakens people’s spirits.”
After the storm, Badenock's family moved to St. Vincent, the largest island that makes up the countries of St. Vincent and Grenadines. More than half of the United Island population was displaced in the continent of St. Vincent in the months after the storm, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Many displaced people never come home, but Badenk believes that is not the case for her and her parents.
“I believe the alliance is more important to me than anywhere on this planet, so it's always home,” she said.
Her father has been slowly rebuilding their family home and now has a new roof, but as of the time of publication, windows and doors are still needed.
Badenock hasn't returned to the league since November 2024, but her parents travel back and forth week. She plans to go back as soon as possible.
“Some people still live in tents, [under] Tarpaulin,” she said, “so not all roses yet. Personally, I think I've been trying to avoid my house. ”
But she decided she had to go back and face her trauma and fear.
“I'm sure the body is there to give me a way,” she said. “I mean, if it rains too much, it makes me feel a way. I'm sure going to the website will evoke certain memories.”
Badenk said she is hopeful about the future, but she is also aware of the lasting psychological impact of the storm on herself, her neighbors and her family.
“I know, especially for everyone, when you've been working all your life, that's what you know, that's what you know, it's very, very painful,” she said. “They say kids are resilient, and when you're young, you can bounce back. But when you're playing in the 70s and 80s, your joy is sitting on your balcony and porch, looking outside, now you can't do that anymore, you have to think about, 'Where I want to live? Have I ever been to this house? That's frustrating.”
Scarce aid
Unlike the United States where the United States can immediately mobilize billions of dollars in resources in disaster areas, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency has provided assistance to members of the Caribbean International Organization of Nations, called CARICOM, with a budget just over $1 million. Some of this comes from the US international development agency, which the Trump administration has largely eliminated. This leaves a lot of restoration work in the hands of local governments and wealthy residents, which can lead to a politicized and inequality recovery process.
“I can sympathize with people from the Dominican and Grenada, even New Orleans, Florida, but again, it's harder for Caribbean countries. Because it's hard. It's much harder for us to get back to normal people than these storms hit the United States,” Bardak said.
St. Vincent and Grenadines will hold elections this year, and the recovery efforts are divided politically.
“[With] The current government is holding coin wallets, and people are trying to walk, hoping “if I’m proven to be worth it, I’ll get some help,” Badak said.
But in response to reporters’ questions on Facebook, others were frustrated by the government’s oversight of recovery.
Since 2001, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves have been in office. He sought help from wealthy expats living on the neighbouring island of Canouan – the billionaire and millionaire Mecca, escaped from the dull weather and taxes.
Ian Wace, one of the richest hedge fund managers in the UK, is an expat who teamed up with the government. WACE reportedly is worth about £800 million ($996 million) and donated about £5 million ($6.73 million) of materials and equipment, initially used in one of his projects with an island in Scotland.
In Facebook Live during the device on nearby Bequia Island, Prime Ministers Gonsalves and Wace explain how delivery came about.
“He is one of the people who prioritizes keeping in touch with the community, and it's his natural instinct,” Gonsalves said of Wes.
“I used to convince him that there was a lot of power,” Gonsalves added.
Wace replied: “Glamor, that's what you use. Good look and a light massage.”
PhD student Amandla Thomas-Johnson hasn't returned to the island in the weeks since Beryl, but he still has cousins and other family members.
“No matter how much you spend, you won’t bring back your home, livelihood, agriculture or wildlife.”
Thomas-Johnson recently saw a brochure invites visitors back to the Grenadines. The brochures assured potential visitors that there were no obvious signs of hurricane damage, but Thomas Johnson said the worst injuries were not always visible.
“Someone thought that if people go back to a minimal means of survival, they basically live like this. People who don't expect United Island will get a higher standard of living,” he said. “For me, this points to some structural inequality in areas where these wealthy, wealthy jets can come in, and they can open up resorts. There is a[n] The lower level of people who can manage doors and do basic hospitality work. But they will never really own capital in these places, their own land and their own islands. This is a very big problem. ”
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