Cyclone Oli in French Polynesia

Photo by: Damien Collet

Tahiti and her islands just got hit by cyclone Oli. The authorities had warned us four days before that a tropical storm was on its way to French Polynesia. It was slowly going  South East towards us and turning itself into a cyclone along the way. Even tough we knew that, everybody was still wondering; is it coming for real? Is it going to descend farther west? Or farther east, thus getting closer than expected?

People who have been through this kind of situation always tell you about the cyclone itself, the wind, the waves, the damages, the victims, but they rarely tell you what’s going on before… about what’s going on in their mind.  And that’s what I am about to do right now, starting the day the authorities first warned us.

4 days before: I thought, “yet another tropical storm; the second one in two weeks. Crap… it’s going to be rainy and windy for days, no surf, no kite. Pshhh…”

3 days before: I started to worry a bit more since the authorities were posting regular reports about the situation and thought that it could actually be serious. But some of my friends were still talking about waxing up their surfboards (“Huge swell on the way,:19 ft, 12 sec”, they said)

2 days before: Oli officially became a cyclone making its way to French Polynesia. I looked at the weather forecast maybe 4 times that day, checking on the direction the cyclone was taking, checking on its intensity, and checking on the authorities reports as well. And I would also check on everything around me: the color of the sky, which I definitely saw in a different way: it was grey, but not the one I was used to seeing. And I starred at the trees: “the leaves don’t move… there’s no wind. Not even a breeze.” And I was like, “Maybe they are wrong, maybe it’s not coming, maybe it’s going down farther west.” But something didn’t feel right. It was way too quiet… and from my veranda I could see that the huge swell everybody had been talking about was there already.

Photo by: Fabien Chin

1 day before: I had checked the weather reports 6 times in 4 hours when the authorities announced they would declare the red alert early in the evening. I stepped out of my office at noon and noticed how unbelievably hot and humid the air was. I was born and raised in French Polynesia, I should be used to this. But once again, it was different. I had never felt that before… it felt… “heavy.” The wind was starting to blow and it was raining slightly. I picked up my child from day care and went straight back home, even if the cyclone wasn’t supposed to hit before at least 18 hours. Once home, I watched the huge waves crashing on the reef and looked around me: “Gosh, I’ve always got anything I wanted, today I have everything I need… and tomorrow I could lose everything. The natural elements that I love so much, that make me smile, make me have so much fun and make me feel so alive can take away everything.”

I went to bed late that night, laid down next to my little one and waited. And waited. I finally fell asleep around 1.00 am. I woke up at 5.30 am; the sky was grey but once again, it was dead calm. I stepped outside and everything was like the day before. I couldn’t believe it. I turned on the news to see the trees on the ground, the destroyed roads and houses, the homeless families. And I realized that I got lucky: the part of the island I live in hadn’t been hit as hard as the other parts.  And most of us here in Tahiti have been spared, unlike some other islands in French Polynesia.

Photo by: Fabien Chin

Some people have lost everything, a few got hurt, one man died taken away by the raging ocean, so it might not be “right” to say thank you. But when I see what happens worldwide, from tsunamis to earthquakes, that’s the only thing I want to say… because it could have been a lot worse. Really, we’ve been spared. So, Whatever or Whoever you are, thank You.

-Vainui