Not sure where to post this, but I get a newsletter from St. Maarten & I thought I would pass this along.

Dear Friends,

Hurricane Omar visited our island on Thursday, October 16th; and, even though he wasn't invited, he hung around for several hours causing extensive damage in the Simpson Bay area. Sunset Beach Bar, Bliss, The French Touch Restaurant and Bamboo Bernies are pretty much destroyed. The wave surge pushed large rocks onto the beach and pushed sand over the road and onto the runway of the airport which was closed until Saturday morning. Trees were knocked down and palm trees were sheered and several cars were damaged. A few buildings lost their roofs and outdoor furniture and anything not tied down flew in all directions. A by-product of Omar was a tornado which touched down in the Simpson Bay Marina (Lagoon) area. One catamaran was flipped over; but, the two people on board were able to swim to safety. Several other boats had minor damage.

Due to the high waves and heavy rains, Philipsburg had some flooding and sand was pushed up onto the boardwalk. The Mullett Bay Golf Course also received a covering of sand on its grass. Power (electric) was out for a while to most areas of the Dutch side and for several days in the area of Simpson Bay, the Marina and Beacon Hill, which had direct hits from large waves. Many of the villas/houses in Beacon Hill suffered extensive damage with water in the ground level floors.

Work crews were out at the beginning of dawn Thursday morning and have done an incredible job cleaning up debris and making repairs. From people that I've spoken with, it looks like the island is quickly getting back to normal although it will take some time to rebuild some of the buildings that had the most damage.

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