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Aerial view of some of the damage caused on Great Abaco Island. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

Blind Man in Bahamas Reportedly Escapes in Storm Carrying Grown Son with Cerebral Palsy on Shoulders

By Amanda Thomason September 6, 2019 at 11:15am

“It was scary, so scary,” Brent Lowe said. That was the understatement of the century when you realize the complexity of the 49-year-old’s situation.

First, Hurricane Dorian had hit, and it hit hard. Lowe was on the Abaco Islands, which was receiving much of the storm’s fury, and the water outside Lowe’s home was neck-deep.

For many people trapped in the hurricane’s path, there was no safe place. High winds tore off roofs and rising waters flooded the inside of homes, forcing many to flee or die — but the conditions outside certainly weren’t any better.

Bahamians were left struggling to crawl from house to house, trying to find somewhere protected to wait out the hurricane.

“The roof started to peel off,” Donnie Carey, another Abaco resident, told NBC News. “It was unbelievable.”

But that wasn’t an isolated experience, and Lowe’s roof had suffered the same fate. He had to leave, but there was danger everywhere.

As if that weren’t terrifying enough, Lowe can’t see. He’s blind. Wading out into deep storm waters in the middle of a hurricane to try to find safety could have ended very poorly for anyone, let alone someone with little to no vision.

To top it all off, Lowe’s son has cerebral palsy, so Lowe set him over his shoulders and strode out into the unknown, latching on to a group of passing neighbors as they, too, looked for standing buildings.

Would you have done the same thing as Lowe if you were in his situation?

“I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life,” Lowe told The New York Times.

The safe spot the group converged on was a neighboring home that was still standing. Lowe and his son crammed into the bathroom with others to hide from the wrath of the storm.

Lowe told reporters that the roof started to lift, flapping against the house until it, too, was eventually torn off.

Lowe’s son had been huddling in the tub, but once the roof was gone everyone sought shelter elsewhere, moving as a group. Thankfully, they were able to navigate to another nearby home that was still intact.

On Monday they were all rescued, and Lowe continued on to Nassau for treatments he needed while his son stayed with an in-law.

“I came here with the clothes that I had on from Saturday,” Lowe explained.

While he and his son are safe, they have a long road ahead of them and still don’t know if their other family members made it through alive.

“Right before we had the wind, I spoke with her,” he said of his daughter. “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.”

Nonetheless, the father said he would return to the Abaco Islands.

“I have to go. That’s where my family is. My kids are there, my brothers, my sisters, they’re all there.”

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