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Looking out.Fantastic to catch two amazing Cuba related events in NYC last night. The @hectorfrankheredia show at @tothbry’s gallery was wonderful. He is one of the greatest Cuban artists painting today. Then the launch of my friend @lisettepoole’s new book of photography “la paloma y la ley” was very moving. Lisette documented two Cuban women on their epic journey from Ecuador to the US. An incredible feat of journalism. ¡Felicidades a todos!A very different view this am... on a quick work trip to New York. My first time here in four years.Bring your car to the beach day.Havana moon.A little strange to no longer see all the flagpoles in front of the US embassy in Havana. Originally the Cuban government put them up to block a news ticker the American diplomats had erected on the front of the embassy that broadcast news and messages Cuban officials didn’t care for. Apparently the sound of the wind going through all those Cuban flags was really annoying and the two governments reached a Cold War compromise: the ticker and the flags would both come down. The flagpoles stayed as did the “anti-imperialist tribunal” where Fidel led massive demonstrations against the US. Cuban officials say they are repairing both the flagpoles and tribunal.It’s been a month since Hurricane Dorian devastated parts of the Bahamas. Immediately after the storm we met a fisherman -Howard Armstrong- who had lost his house and his wife. It took weeks but we tracked him down to tell his haunting story of survival. To read more about what Howard has gone through, go to the link in my profile. Thanks to my stellar team @jaaydaay and @josecnn.“Want to try and find my car?” said Greg, the owner of the house where we are staying on Marsh Harbour. We did. In about twelve feet of water.Ain’t playing.Flying into Marsh Harbour today nearly a month after Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Abacos and Grand Bahama. The devastation is still astounding and beyond tragic.A very special day today opening my first photo show. So grateful to my colleagues and friends who came to be part of this celebration of Havana. As always my kids stole the show. Thanks to @aprespinosa and @peterturnley for the photos.Beyond excited to have my first photo exhibit ever open tomorrow Thursday at 4pm at the Carmen Montilla gallery in Old Havana. Havana is celebrating its 500th anniversary and the show is my impressions of this unique, complicated and magical city that I am lucky to call home. Thanks to @cubajournal @eliaponte and @aprespinosa for helping me to realize this dream.After 13 days covering Dorian and it’s aftermath, it’s with deeply mixed emotions that I head home for a break. Conditions are extremely challenging. No power, no water, it’s been over a week since anyone in my amazing team has had a shower or a real meal. Having covered the storm, the rescues and the aftermath, we have hit the wall. Bahamians have it far far worse and we are in awe of their resilience. My colleagues on the ground here will continue to follow where this heartbreaking story goes. We still don’t have an accurate number of the missing or dead. Aid is still taking too long to arrive. I am going home to give my kids a badly needed hug and will be back. My deepest thanks to @jaaydaay and @josecnn. Please keep Bahamians in your thoughts.From my friend @aprespinosa who has been covering Dorian in the Bahamas since before the storm hit and as always has been doing amazing work. “Synobia Reckley holds up the dress her niece wore as a flower girl at her wedding, as she goes through valuables in the rubble of her home destroyed one week ago by Hurricane Dorian in Rocky Creek East End, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. Synobia, 25, married two days after Hurricane Mathew in 2016, which passed over her home without doing serious damage.”Nine days here and I am still stunned by the ferocity of Hurricane Dorian. I have never seen a storm that inflicted such overwhelming devastation. @jaaydaay, @josecnn and I went to McLean’s Town, the eastern most point of Grand Bahama Island today by boat as the road has been impassable since the storm. Everything there is twisted, shattered and upside down. The harbor is full of submerged cars. Houses have been blown apart. Residents no longer recognize their town. My story will be on @cnn @newdaycnn tomorrow.Hurricane Dorian hit a week ago but there are many places in the Bahamas that look as if the storm just struck there. On Grand Bahama there has been little -if any- aid arriving to the most devastated areas.About an hour from Freeport, the extreme devastation on the eastern tip of Grand Bahama Island is terrifying. Dorian hit here as a Category 5 and leveled whole towns.The Freeport Airport.Freeport resident Howard Armstrong describes to CNN how his wife drowned in front of him after the storm surge from Hurricane Dorian swamped their home. The water flooded the home to the point that they had to climb on top of their kitchen cabinets, Armstrong said. Only their heads were above the water. After hours of waiting in the flooded house for rescue Armstrong’s wife succumbed to hypothermia and slipped under the water. “She was gone so quickly,” Armstrong said as he waited for his wife’s body to be recovered.Filming people being rescued from flooding caused by Dorian but we are still getting pelted by hurricane force wind and rain. The storm is refusing to let up on the Bahamas. Photo @jaaydaay
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