August 24, 2009. Western Head, N.S. Disaster for Mary.

It started out innocently. Mary came over to see the high waves. She was on the way to the causeway and I went with her. The waves were huge and noisy. Many other folks were also watching from the road. Every ten feet we would stop and watch the waves, then we would walk closer to the water. All at once a large wave came right over the causeway and poured into the lake. It was awesome to see the power of the waves rolling right over the road. Mary wanted to take a picture so we moved further along the road, still well back from where the last wave breached the road. Mary was looking at her camera three feet ahead of me. While she was fiddling with her camera, I looked out to sea. All of a sudden, a huge wave headed for us. I yelled and turned to run back away from the water but when the water got to my knees and was very strong against my legs I walked with my feet right along the road and finally got to high ground. When I turned to speak to Mary, I discovered that Mary had disappeared.

First I yelled for her but of course, the sea was noisy and no one could hear me. I finally spotted Mary in the lake, floating forty feet from the shore. I frantically signalled to the good folks who had been watching the whole scene, and as Mary swam back towards the shore, two men jumped down the rocks to help her out of the water and up the steep bank. She was bleeding from her arms and legs, fingers and toes, and the bottom of her feet hurt very badly, but she was alive and well. A couple drove her in their truck to our house, then we drove her home, where she tended to her cuts and bruises with ice and water and neosporin. This morning, her foot was worse so she had an xray at the Liverpool Hospital, and sure enough, she has two broken bones in her foot, so now she is in a boot and will be for the next six weeks. But she is a very lucky lady. The waves coming over the road were full of boulders both large and small and I hate to think what would have happened had one of those bolders hit her head. In the lake, the force of the waves bounced her over the rocks, where she cut her arms and legs. Again, fortunately, she did not hit her head, and she did not panic so now she is alive. But for a few seconds, I could not find her anywhere, not in the lake and not on the road and not is the sea. When I saw her head out in the lake, swimming slowly on her back, I felt sure she would make it to the shore safely. The men helping her were very anxious to get her away from the lake, because they feared another big surge of water, thus pushing them all back into the lake. But all went well, although both of us knew we were stupid to be so close to the waters.

This all happened the morning of the storm, Hurricane Bill. Today, the couple who drove Mary to our home found her Crocs, floating on the side of the lake, and returned them to her. She kept her camera in her hand the whole time, but she lost her watch and shoes. Now the only thing missing is her watch. She is a very lucky lady, and so am I.