local man stalked by hurricanes

(reprinted without permission)

danbury township — matt whitted envisioned himself spending a fabulous vacation in the historic neighborhoods of new orleans.

but hurricane katrina leveled the city at the end of august and dashed the 25-year-old danbury township man’s getaway plan.

so whitted, his girlfriend and another couple decided to pick a hurricane-free location to spend a relaxing week. at the time, cancun, mexico, seemed like the perfect resort area to sight-see and lay on the beach.
they were wrong.

instead of staying in a sunny resort, they spent six days holed up in a mexican elementary school, crammed into a classroom with 20 other people, mostly fellow tourists. torrents of rain poured through the wooden slats that served as windows, and they slept on wet blankets.

it was a stark contrast from what they had expected, said whitted, who was fortunate enough to catch a flight back to the united states oct. 26.

three days into their vacation, staff at the foursome’s hotel warned them that hurricane wilma would be striking.

“all indications from everyone and the hotel staff were ‘everything’s fine. it’s not a big deal, just stay in your room,'” whitted said.

on the fourth evening, whitted stopped in the resort’s lobby to see a flurry of panicked activity. mexican government officials were evacuating the hotel, and whitted and his group had only a few moments to grab whatever they could and get on the last bus to a shelter.

they spent the first night waiting for the worst. then early oct. 21, the wilma’s wrath descended on cancun.

“it was pretty scary stuff,” he said. “water was flying in. our blankets and everything got drenched.”

by the morning of oct. 23, the storm had passed. no one knew when they could leave the shelter or when they could eventually find transportation back to the united states, he said.

“every day that we were there, (government workers) would tell us ‘buses are coming,'” whitted said. “there were a lot of people, including ourselves, who were getting very edgy at having no idea. that was pretty much the low point.”

mexican governmental workers brought them canned beans and tuna. whitted and his group had also brought bottled water and potato chips with them as well.

meanwhile, the different personalities in the group were beginning to clash. some people were more frightened than others, and a few wanted to organized and lead the group out in search of more food.

“it was like ‘survivor,’ a show that i don’t actually watch,” he said. “i kept wishing we could vote people off the island. there was a lot of petty stuff you wouldn’t expect in kind of an emergency situation.”

a couple days later, a caravan of buses arrived to take the tourists back to their hotels.

“everyone was jumping and cheering,” he said. “i told someone, ‘boy, that’s about the most beautiful thing i’ve ever seen.'”

the sights on the ride back to the resort, however, were anything but beautiful. many locals’ homes and tourist hot spots were blown away.

“as far as you could see, power lines were knocked down,” he said. “hotels were just leveled.”

the two couples spent the next night at their hotel, which was relatively un-harmed, trying to figure out how they could get home. they went wandering through the city and found a makeshift airline center, where the various companies were directing patrons to airports out of the country.

“the next thing i know, we’re on a plan to chicago,” he said.

despite the storm and its aftermath, whitted still has some good vacation memories. during the first few days, he, his girlfriend, who lives in canton, and the other couple went snorkeling, rode all-terrain vehicles through the jungle and ate at a five-star restaurant.

“the vacation up until the hurricane was great,” he said.