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16 November 25. 1999
The Daily News. Thursday. November 25.S999
mOiion
The hurricanes will come and go
'And there arose a great storm of
wind, and the wavs beat into the
ship. so that it was now full. And he
aws in the hinder part oJ the ship,
asleep on a pillow: and there awike
him. and say unto him. Master
crest thou not that wv perith? And
he arose, and rebuked the wina, and
said unto the sea: Peace he still.
And the wind ceased, and there was
a great calm. And he said unto them.
why are n so fearful? H11w is t that
vi have no faith? And the' learned
e.cceedingly and said one to anoth.
er. what manner ot'man is this, that
etw the wind and the sea obey
St. Mark 4:37.41.
Olasee Davis. an ecologist. is a
contributing columnist .or The
Daily News. He lims on S. Crolx.
The scriptures above depict how
fearful Jesus' disciples were when a
great storm aroem on the Galilee Sea.
You can only image how the disci-
ples fet as the waves beat into the
boat. The disciples were so fearfld
for their lives that they aot forgot
that Jesus was n the bottom of the
boat asleep. As Jesus was awaken
by his disciples, he spoke to the
sonrm and the i became calm. It
was the lack of faith that causes the
disciples to be fearful of the storm.
Like the storm that caught the dis-
ciples off-guard on the Sea of
Uslilee. Hurricane Lenny sneaked
up from the Gulf of Mexico while
many Virgin Islands residents were
getting ready for the Thanksgiving
holidays. In fact. the National
Hurricane Center was also caught
off-guard to the development of the
storm.
As in the biblical story. lives were
saved during the dreadful Hurricane
Lenny.
While there was a small percent-
age of damage on St. Croix. many of
us complained about the curfew the
government enforced, lack of elec-
trical power and running water to
I 4W
our homes, or
niences the storm
should be thanks
are still alive. 1
should ask ourse
are: who looked
trees. the lack o
species of wildli
environment that
local economy.
Too often w
the environment
all living organis
food that we eat
The air that we hi
us oxygen. The r
is what protects
ments of nature.
amelialaed. Wha
eventually afects
others. What Iap
affects the pond,
ocean, and finally
After Hurrican
ducted an environ
of St Croix. To m
little impact on t
roment. In the
the water quality
soil erosion. In so
water from La
Golden Rock. all
Lagoon shore, the
a half or mile out
systems in these a
impacted.
From Shoys Ba
Yellowcliff Bay,
was generally gi
spots of brown s
areas especially w
located near Teag
Park, the water w
the clearing of the land behind the
park for the millennium celebration
at Point Udall. From Coton Garden
Bay to Point Udall. the water was
clear and clean. This area has no
DOVll man-made structures only the
paved road leading to Point Udall.
the eastemmost point of the United
States.
East End Bay on the south shore
just the inconve- of Point Udall. all the way to Grass
has brought, we Point. the water was perfectly clear
41 to God that we except in few inland bay areas. Rod
The questions we Bay all the way to the G1reat0 P
Lives after a storm Bay. the water was clean except the
after the damaged day after the storm where sedimens
f food for certain were seen out at the bay barrier reef
fe. or the marine system. Farchman Bay all the way
contribute to our to Case Garden Bay, the water was
fair and good in some areas of the
fll to realize that coastline.
sustains the life of From Rust Up Twist to Hams
ms on earth. The Buff. the water quality was good
keeps s healthy- except for few inland bay*. Driving
death is what gives from the scenic road east to west,
vof over our heads the forest area had little impact from
us from the cle- the storm. There were large patches
Ecosystem are of green space where some plants
t happens in one ware till In blossom. Between 5
what happens i percent to 6 percent of largetree
pen in the forest were damaged. However, the west
the estuary, the side of St. Croix received the most
mankind coastal damage from dithe storm.
e Lenny. I n- All the sand In the Frederikted
mental assessment
y surprise found are dippeared due to beach ero-
he physical envi- sion. Te se water was right up
hrisasted ar under on myan ofthebusiesses N
sd homes from Fort Frederik Museum
wasme placor due to to Sprat Hole Bay area Inland veg-
Grands .1ncese elation has minimum storm damage.
the way to Princ The center of the island vegetation
water was brown also had minimum damage.
. The barrier reef Overall, the environment on St.
areas were heavily Croix will recover with no major
problem except for the coal reef
y to Solitude and marine environment, which will
the water quality take a longer time due to the trmaen-
ood. There were dou beating ftom wave action by
ea water in some the strm.
here the mariner Oh. he of little fbith, the environ-
e Bay. At Cramer meant will recover. It is a matter of
as brown due to dme.
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