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Stories from Rodger Harrison, President Paramedics For Children |
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Hurricane Mitch was one of the deadliest and most powerful hurricanes on record in the Atlantic basin, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 km/h). Ripped Honduras to pieces. The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. Mitch was one of the top strongest Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history, and Paramedics For Children responded. Within days of the storm we started organizing cargo flights to Honduras with the first flight coming from Key West Florida to La Ceiba Honduras. I can still recall the first time we touched down. We were told by the tower that we were the second relief aircraft to come to Honduras, and to take great care because the runway was covered in water. When we touched down the water sprayed over the cockpit of the aircraft and we started to slide out of control. Fortunately we had a great pilot and we quickly recovered and landed the plane. Each flight cost $6,500 and was paid for from donations by friends of Paramedics For Children and myself. |
| We had a great flight crew and when they found out that I had a commercial pilot license I was given my fair share
of flight duties. The flights took 4.5 hours one way on average and on one flight we developed a bad oil leak in
the right engine, but since we were half way to Honduras we just shut it down and flew on. It was quite an adventure.
Once we arrived in Honduras the devastation was incredible. Everywhere I looked I saw death and destruction. As a paramedic I thought that I had seen everything, but nothing can prepare you for this. I can still remember walking along the river bed in La Ceiba and seeing the bodies of both animals and people laying in the mud. It was a sight that I will never forget as long as I live and it was not until the Tsunami of 2004 that I saw worse. I have never experienced anything like it. Many times as we carried food to the homeless I found myself crying. We were doing all we could but it was just not enough. I still have nightmares about the children we had to leave behind and could not save. |
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