Plotting Survival (To Live in the Hurricane's Path)

This essay attempts to understand how residents of the Eastern Caribbean island of Waitikubuli,2 otherwise known as Dominica, who inhabit an animate, 751-km2 landmass of high volcanic mountains, dense rainforests, rushing rivers, and unstable soils contend with cyclones that have the power to spin their worlds into disarray. Storms that bring pain and loss. That bring regrowth and new beginnings. These vast meteorological phenomena, with an average diameter of 500km, bring heavy rains, flash floods, high seas, and winds as fast as 265km per hour.