Victims honoured 22 years after Hurricane Fabian
Dozens gathered at the shoreline in St George’s yesterday to remember four people who lost their lives in Hurricane Fabian 22 years ago.
Police constables Stephen Symonds and Nicole O’Connor, station duty officer Gladys Saunders and Manuel Pacheco, a Corporation of Hamilton employee, were swept off the Causeway during the hurricane on September 5, 2003.
Michael Weeks, the Minister of National Security, called their deaths an “unprecedented loss for Bermuda”.
The minister explained: “In all our history with storms, never have we lost so many lives in one day.
“The horrific loss of that day shook the island to its core and even now, two decades later, the memory of that storm and the people we lost still weighs on our hearts, minds and souls.”
Mr Weeks said the victims’ memorial bench at Kindley Field Park served as a reminder that “even though storms pass, the impact can remain with us for ever”.
Linda Bogle-Mienzer, who worked with Ms Saunders, Mr Symonds and Ms O’Connor, said she and others have struggled to cross the Causeway since the tragedy.
She explained: “Imagine every single time you go across the border, in a country that’s likely going to be your for ever country, that memory, that pain is brought back up.”
Ms Bogle-Mienzer said she cried a great deal for the first ten to fifteen years after the hurricane, but now focuses on memories of her former colleagues.
She added: “We will be here every single year, as long as I’m alive, to say ‘we remember you and what you did for our country’.
“We are committed to ensuring that our country remembers you, as we should do for all of our heroes.”
Martin Weekes, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, was the inspector on duty during the hurricane and said the deaths still stuck with him.
He said: “Every time I go over that bridge, I remember those who worked under my watch, especially Ms Saunders, who was a force of nature in herself.”
Storm chaser Jim Edds travelled to Bermuda the day before Hurricane Fabian hit Bermuda.
He said the hurricane, which he filmed for The Weather Channel, was a “nice tight storm” — but was surprised at how much storm surge it brought to the island.
Mr Edds remembers military planes flying over Bermuda, and the Government declining help from the British Navy after the hurricane.
He particularly enjoyed filming the hurricane in Hamilton and has filmed countless other storms since, including Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and typhoons in the Philippines.
Isis Wellman, the Bermuda Police Service occupational welfare officer, said: “In the face of overwhelming loss, we are reminded that even strong forces cannot take away the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
“Though Hurricane Fabian may have claimed lives and left us grieving, it has also shown us the power of community, the kindness of strangers and the unyielding hope that continues to rise in the ashes of devastation.”
Kevin Santucci, the brother of Ms Saunders, led a prayer of comfort before attendees threw flowers into the ocean in the victims’ memories.
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