A blind man from the Bahamas has managed to do the extraordinary and carry his disabled son to safety during the ferocious Hurricane Dorian.
After the nightmare storm blew the roof off his Abaco home, Brent Lowe, 49, was forced to carry his 24-year-old son to safety through waters which reached up to his chin. Mr Lowe’s son suffers from cerebral palsy and is unable to walk.
Mr Lowe – who has been blind for the past 11 years – placed his adult son on his shoulders and walked through the floodwaters in search of an intact house to shelter in.
Recalling the moment his home was destroyed by the Category Five storm, Mr Lowe told CNN:
At that time it was raining and raining hard,
So I picked him up, threw him on my shoulder and when I stepped off my porch, my front porch, the water was chin high, up to my chin. […] We all had to walk out into the water and into the wind to the neighbor’s house.
At the time the roof was blown off, Mr Lowe had been hiding in the bathroom of his cement house alongside his son, his sister-in-law, some relatives and neighbours whose home had already been ruined. Until he was forced to leave, he hadn’t realised just how deep the flooding was.
Speaking with CNN, Mr Lowe continued:
I was terrified, I didn’t realise the water was that deep. I was thinking maybe knee deep.
It wasn’t until I stepped off and I realised, oh, I wonder if it gets deeper because that means I have to swim with him, you know what I mean. But thankfully it didn’t get over my head.
Mr Lowe walked for about five minutes through the floodwater, although it felt far longer. Fortunately, the father and son were able to reach a neighbour’s house where they waited until they could be taken to a shelter.
As reported by The New York Times, Mr Lowe was evacuated to Nassau on Tuesday September 3, where he will be able to recieve the dialysis treatment he requires three times a week. His son has had to remain in Abaco, where he is being cared for by Mr Lowe’s sister-in-law.
Mr Lowe is still unsure of whether or not his eldest daughter made it through the hurricane. With phone lines having been down for days, it has proven difficult for him to make contact with loved ones in Abaco.
Mr Lowe told The New York Times:
Right before we had the wind, I spoke with her, I wish I could have been able to call and ask somebody, you know, because I really was worried about them. I was worried about everybody.
Following the devastation of the storm, Mr Lowe has been left homeless, as have many others throughout the country.
As reported by The New York Times, thousands of people across the Bahamas are now homeless as a result of the storm; forced to take refuge in gymnasiums and churches. In some neighbourhoods, 95 per cent of homes have been left completely destroyed.
Our thoughts are with those affected.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.