In early July, Hurricane Beryl swept across the Caribbean, devastating infrastructure and upending lives. Hurricane Beryl was the first of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season and the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record.
Thanks to generous supporters who have given throughout the year to the ministry’s most needed areas, Water Mission’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) responded almost immediately to the disaster.
“We are over a month into the response after the hurricane,” said Asher Bray, Water Mission’s Disaster Response Technical Manager. “Cleanup continues on Union Island, where piles of debris continue to be staged to be burned. Nearly every house and building was affected. It will be a long building process to recover.”
Team members arrived first in Grenada, where they installed a reverse osmosis (RO) treatment system for World Central Kitchen as they worked to provide food to victims and humanitarian workers in the area.
From there, DART members traveled to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to focus the rest of our efforts on Union Island. Residents of Union Island rely heavily on rainwater harvesting, collecting rainwater in catchments on their roofs. The storm destroyed an estimated 98% of homes, meaning people lost their primary water source.
“When I walked out in [the] aftermath…tears came to my eyes because I did not expect to come outside and see my house gone,” Adele, a mother and resident of Union Island, recalled. “Everything was destroyed. It was terrible.”
After assessing the best way to provide water to Union Island residents, the DART has been working to restore many of the island’s community rainwater catchments and wells. They set up solar-powered pumps at the island’s two boreholes for residents to have access to non-potable water for uses other than drinking, such as laundry, cleaning, and flushing toilets. Water Mission has also helped power a local hotel’s RO system.
“Water Mission has come alongside a hotel working to support the community with water,” Bray shared. “They needed power, and we provided it. They needed parts, and we’re providing them. It’s been a good collaboration.”
Partnering with the country’s Central Water and Sewage Authority, our team also built tanks onto a truck to help distribute water and refill tanks across the island.
“Yesterday, a member of the Central Water and Sewerage Authority expressed how grateful he was that we were here on the island supporting them,” Bray said. “Water Mission’s presence isn’t just about safe water, but also bringing hope to the recovery: the hope that we find in Jesus.”
Water Mission’s DART members continue to work to provide people with safe water. We are thankful to the friends of the ministry whose support makes it possible to create opportunities for hope as the residents of Union Island begin to rebuild their lives.