Tom and St John Update, Mon, Sept 18

I cannot believe it is happening again.  Hurricane Maria is due to pass St. John sometime tomorrow (Tues) as a Category 4 storm.  It will be close enough to be extremely dangerous and to cause more damage to an already devastated area.

I spoke with Tom briefly yesterday and Ron spoke to him this morning.  Conversations were broken up and very garbled before we were completely disconnected but the following is what we were able to discern in the brief time.

*First, while Tom was working with recovery (clearing, ferrying, etc) he experienced some extreme dehydration and was taken to a hospital. (I am not sure where)  A saline injection was administered and he was kept there for one day before being sent home with orders to stay out of the sun for several days.  This is enough to make me (his Mother) extremely worried.

*On St John his boat (the Sadie Sea) is the only one to survive as operable so he has been using it to evacuate people from the island and to bring supplies when available.

*There is good government support at this time.

* The Army and one aircraft carrier are there right now.

* He has food and water to last a while.

* His apartment is cement and holding up--so far.

* He is not going to leave the island at this time because: "I can help with the boat during recovery," he says.  So I will worry some more.  I keep reminding myself that he was in the Strike Force with the Coast Guard, so he is pretty knowledgable.  Still, I worry.

The singer, Kenny Chesney, lost his home on St John but he has been donating lumber and supplies to the islanders.

If anyone would like to help out the following are websites that Tom and Ron (who did some research) are recommending:

Go Fund Me

https://www.gofundme.com/kims-hurricane-relief

Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City Foundation Benefiting Irma Disaster Relief

https://kennychesney.com/

From his web site, there are links to PayPal to donate.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=B724JKMHRJE36

Thank you to family and friends for your concern and best wishes.  I will keep updating until hurricane season ends.