Interview with Bonnie Sheil conducted by Lesley Sevastopoulos, December 1, 1992, Miami, FL. Hurricane Andrew - visible satellite image taken by METEOSAT 3 This picture depicts Andrew during period of maximum intensity over Bahamas August 23, 1992. Courtesy National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Adminstration Photo Library:

This schedule will be for a veteran primary public school teacher living in South Dade and working in the South Miami area.

This interview was conducted at Bowman Foster Ashe Elementary School on Tuesday, December 1, 1992, with Mrs. Bonnie Sheil, a primary teacher in DCPS for eight years.

Sevastopoulos: When did you first realize that Hurricane Andrew might hit Miami?

Sheil: That it was going to hit or might hit? I think it was Friday afternoon we knew it was coming this way.

Sevastopoulos: What preparations did you make?

Sheil: We didn't do anything at first, we were hoping it would turn away and go somewhere else. But by Sunday, we got groceries and put the shutters down and what we thought were normal hurricane preparations, and brought the lawn furniture in.

Sevastopoulos: What did you think it would be like before the storm?

Sheil: Before the storm came, I knew it would be bad because I've been through a hurricane before, I knew it would be a lot of wind, expecting a lot of rain, and I wasn't expecting it to be as scary as it was.

Sevastopoulos: Where were you during the hurricane?

Sheil: We started out in the Family Room, then moved to the Bedroom, and to the hallway closet that has no windows outside, and wound up in our wine closet.

Sevastopoulos: So you were at home?

Sheil: Yes.

Sevastopoulos: And who was with you?

Sheil: My husband.

Sevastopoulos: What happened to you during the hurricane? What was going on around you?

Sheil: There was a lot of noise on the outside of the house and that caused us to move from place to place. It was very scary and so dark. I didn't know, we didn't know what was going on around us, and that was what was so scary. We didn't have any water or anything come in. Nothing came into the house.

Sevastopoulos: What was happening to your property during the hurricane?

Sheil: Well, we thought we heard trees going down, we heard things hitting the roof, and in fact trees did go down and our solar system came off and took a bounce across the roof. Just a lot of blowing and our patio fell down and we could hear the aluminum scrapping but we didn't know what it was at the time.

Sevastopoulos: How was it the same and how was it different?

Sheil: This time it was different because it was my house. I was a lot older, I was a kid the last time I was here for a hurricane, I was in High School. The noise, I remember the noise, and that was accurate. I remember the wind howling all around my Mother's house and that was exactly the same. It was a whole lot scarier. It was also a stronger storm but I think there were things that were things scarier to me because it was my house and I was grownup and I took it a lot more serious.

Sevastopoulos: What did you do after the hurricane?

Sheil: Nothing. We were in shock. Right afterwards we went outside and for a long time just walked around and just looked at everything and then realized we had to clear our street of debris because our street was completely blocked.

Sevastopoulos: When you went out, what was the first thing you thought about?

Sheil: I didn't know where I was. It just didn't look like my neighborhood. It was like a surrealistic experience. It was very unreal.

Sevastopoulos: After that, what was the first thing you needed to do and really did?

Sheil: The first thing I did was try to get a hold of my kids to let them know I was O.K. They weren't here. It took me quite a while to figure out that I had to, I guess I must have known that I had to do that but I was so in shock looking at everything and putting together oh, that's what must have been happening when I heard that noise and trying to piece that kind of stuff together. So the first thing I finally did was call my kids.

Sevastopoulos: What was it like the first week of the hurricane?

Sheil: Horrible. It was horrible. I had no electricity, had no water. The worst campout I've ever been on! It was terrible.

Sevastopoulos: Did you receive any help after the hurricane?

Sheil: My son came to help us. My two brothersinlaw came to help to kind of clear out.

Sevastopoulos:. And did you or were you able to give help to anyone else?

Sheil: We helped... the neighborhood got to together, my husband was one of two people on the block who had a chainsaw and we cleared the street. After I called my kids it dawned on all of us that we were blocked in and if we ever needed to get out or we needed anybody to get in we were going to have to clear the street. And so we all helped each other clear the street.

Sevastopoulos: What kind of effect has Hurricane Andrew had on your daily life?

Sheil: It makes me feel like everything is in slow motion. I'm trying to get things done around the house, it's very slow and certainly made a lot of tension in my house. A lot of tension that is not there.

Sevastopoulos: What is your frame of mind now, about 3 ½ months later as compared to right after the hurricane?

Sheil: Much, much better but I still feel at loose ends.

Sevastopoulos: Has the hurricane significantly changed your plans for the future?

Sheil: Not really. We aren't going to move or do anything like that.

Sevastopoulos: When did you first come back to work?

Sheil: The nineteenth of September, the seventeenth of September... when did we come back?

Sevastopoulos: So you came back the first official day of school.

Sheil: Yes.

Sevastopoulos: What was coming back like?

Sheil: It was good to get back, to get some kind of normalcy. It was just a good feeling to get away from all the mess at the house, especially since there wasn't mess here.

Sevastopoulos: How has this school year up until now been different or the same than previous school years for you?

Sheil: Different because it started late. I don't feel as organized I feel disorganized, I have more kids, the kids in the beginning are more settled down now but were at loose ends and I was at loose ends, too. Trying to help them cope and help myself cope I never had a year like that. And I never had a year where I started where I just feel like I just can't catch up.

Sevastopoulos: Please describe the role that your school may have played and may continue to play in rebuilding the community it serves.

Sheil: I don't know about our school since they the school didn't suffer any damage and the area that this school serves really isn't badly damaged. I think the greatest service we provided is to provide places for the kids that didn't have a place down south for the few that we did get.

Sevastopoulos: Are there visible changes in your students as a result of the hurricane?

Sheil: I think there were in a few of them at first. I really don't notice any changes anymore. I really didn't notice any changes in the kids I had last year. None in the community - they were pretty much spared, I didn't think the kids were too stressed right after the hurricane. (Reference was made to one child in the classroom who had just recently moved to Miami from Michigan and parents were going through a divorce. This child was very withdrawn and could not stay on task. There have been major improvements with this child in the last several weeks.)

Sevastopoulos: What about your colleagues?

Sheil: The teachers here are all together different especially the ones who lost their homes. You see them not at all organized, not as calm as they were last year.

Sevastopoulos: Do you think there are any positive outcomes as a result of the hurricane?

Sheil: To some extent. We talk to neighbors and kind of got together with those we haven't been too friendly with and people finally got together and starting helping each other and that was nice.

Sevastopoulos: Is there anything else you would like to tell me about?

Sheil: I can't think of anything else. It was a very unusual experience not anything I was expecting and I don't know what I was expecting as far as it ending, I guess I knew realistically that hearing about the other areas like Hugo, how long it takes to recover and everything is going to take this long. It just really gone on so long and I know it isn't really that long but it just seems so long and I'm tired of it, I'm really tired of it!