Tag Puerto Rico

Hurricane Hugo – September 1989

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Ceiba, Puerto Rico. My GMC Jimmy and 1971 VW Bug made it through with minor paint damage. The front of the building was on the leeward side of the prevailing winds. A neighbor who lived across the street (Nimitz Drive) took the image.

Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, September 18, 1989.
Hurricane Hugo swept through the Virgin Islands and the eastern half of Puerto Rico. Here’s a view of our on-base house at the height of the storm. The carport roof had blown off, but more importantly, our living room window had blown in, sending debris throughout our house. Shards of glass were embedded in our interior concrete walls! Fortunately, we had evacuated to Florida less than 36 hours before.

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Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned quite a bit from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan

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Vintage Tequila – Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico

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While going through our liquor cabinet I discovered this unique bottle from the package store at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. We purchased this bottle back in 1989 or so.

You don’t often see bottles with a U.S. Naval Station logo on it – especially now. I sold this empty bottle on eBay recently. Gotta love eBay!

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Be sure to stop by my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2020 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

Hurricane Hugo – 1989

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Hurricane Hugo PR

Our house at 28A Nimitz Drive at the height of the storm. The image was taken by our neighbor from the safety of their house across the street.

Hurricane Hugo thirty years ago today. The eye of powerful Hurricane Hugo swept over the central U.S. Virgin Islands and the eastern coast of Puerto Rico on the morning of September 18, 1989. Here’s our house at the height of the hurricane as the winds whipped to a nearly sustained 100 mph with gusts to 120 mph. The house sat on the highest hill in base housing on the Naval Station Roosevelt Roads (Ceiba, Puerto Rico) overlooking the Carribean Sea. At this point of the storm, our carport roof had blown away (as did the backyard porch roof) and the living room window on the side had blown in. Our tan GMC Jimmy and blue VW bug somehow managed to make it through the storm with only minor paint damage from the sandblasting of the winds. The upstairs front window blew in a little bit after this picture was taken when the winds shifted around as the eye passed.

Of course, many areas of the base were heavily damaged or completely destroyed but the islands of St. Croix, Vieques and Culebra were essentially leveled. Hugo went on to deliver a powerful hit to South Carolina a few days later.

Our daughter had just turned six months old in September so we had evacuated to Florida less than 36 hours prior to landfall (actually the last flight out on American Airlines from San Juan to Miami).

tracks-at-1989

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2019 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

Diving in Puerto Rico – 1989

Chris and Carol 5 Comments

I’ve hardly scanned any of my hundreds of pictures from our time living in Puerto Rico – 1988 to 1991. We lived in a big poured concrete house on top of the highest hill overlooking the Caribbean on the U.S. Naval Base at Roosevelt Roads (Ceiba). Hurricane Hugo (1989) blew out almost all of our windows – we weren’t there as we had evacuated a day before the storm hit. Our belongings were water damaged and our cars were scratched and sandblasted by the fierce winds but we were safe and our cats made it through the storm just fine (interior safe room with plenty of food and water).

We feel for the good people of Puerto Rico. It’s a tough little island and I’m sure they’ll pull through but the recovery will be slow and painful.

Here’s a photo I did find on my PC. It’s me getting ready for a dive at one of our favorite swimming spots on base.

IMG_20170420_0002

Photo by Carol

roosey house

Our house is circled in blue with the line underneath. This area was known as Nimitz Drive and was senior enlisted base housing. It looks like the forest (jungle) has taken over.

rr big

Large scale view of eastern Puerto Rico. Our house was in the small red circle. We could easily see the island of Vieques from our upstairs windows. The large red circle is where Hurricane Maria made landfall.

Hoping that Puerto Rico can recover quickly.

Chris and Carol