Libby woman survives wrath of hurricanes Irma, Maria

Three hurricanes have pummeled North America in the past six weeks and Libby native Sarah Crill has seen more than her fair share of the devastation. She and her boyfriend Nate Apolito weathered hurricane Irma inside their St. John home, but when an injury sent Apolito to Puerto Rico for medical care, they found themselves in the eye of a second torrential monster.

“I was sick to my stomach when I heard about it,” Crill said of hurricane Maria — which hit land Wednesday, just weeks behind Irma. “You go through one and that’s enough.”

The couple survived their first hurricane hunkered down in the bathroom with their cat Mahi Mahi and two strays they’d managed to capture before the storm rolled in. The cats curled up atop towels in dresser drawers while Crill watched Irma’s fury blow across the landscape from a small window. The 150 mph winds of the Category 5 hurricane peeled away the plywood they’d screwed across their windows and later, ripped the roof off their apartment, exposing the tenant above to the storm’s wrath.

“It was horrifying,” Crill said. “About halfway though the storm I remember thinking, if this goes on any longer we’re going to lose everything. You fear for your life in those moments.”

Midway through the storm, she left the safety of the bathroom to retrieve a few sentimental items when she heard someone yelling. Crill shined a flashlight in a window, revealing her elderly male neighbor, hollering to be let inside. She ushered him in and the three of them crammed in the bathroom to wait out the hurricane.

When the storm subsided, Crill was able to observe the extent of the damage. Their home was flooded and the trees covering the neighboring hillsides had been stripped bare.

Their neighbor spent that first night in the couple’s bathroom, while they pitched a tent on top of their soaked mattress.

“It was a special kind of camping,” she said.

But eight days later, things took a turn for the worse.

Crill and Apolito were laying a tarp across the top of their apartment, where their roof once spanned, when Apolito slipped.

“I still have nightmares about his fall. He slipped on the tarp and I went to reach for his arm and I just wasn’t quick enough,” Crill said. “I thought he was dead.”

Apolito fell 30 feet from the roof onto concrete and sustained a broken back, broken ribs and a serious head injury. With phone lines and internet down, Crill had no choice but to shout to her neighbors for help. They loaded Apolito into a vehicle and transported him to a hospital which fortunately was just five minutes away. Apolito was medevaced to Central Medical Hospital in Puerto Rico and Crill went along for the ride, leaving behind their beloved Mahi Mahi in the hands of a friend.

From the air, Irma’s destruction seemed even more staggering. Roofs were torn off homes, power lines were down and four of the six boats in Crill’s fleet were destroyed.

Although she didn’t know it then, that wouldn’t be the last she’d see of hurricane damage.

Hurricane Maria was predicted to make landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm, putting them once again in the path of danger.

But finding a plane ride home proved impossible. Apolito was bedridden because of his injuries, and Crill couldn’t locate a flight that would allow him to lie down.

“They pretty much told us you’re going to ride it out here at the hospital,” Crill said. “There’s not much you can do after that. You feel a little hopeless — you just pray for the best and hope you don’t blow away.”

The hospital, while lacking in creature comforts, was at least partially insulated from the storm by large buildings on its perimeter. Water still managed to seep in, and leaked so much in Apolito’s room that ceiling tiles began falling to the floor. Hospital nurses stayed at the facility because they had nothing to go home to. One hospital employee told Crill that he’d just purchased a home only to return and find it flooded to the roof.

“We’re just thankful we have our lives right now,” Crill said. “People are still scrambling from the storm. Irma ripped everybody’s roofs off and the next storm just flooded them. Nobody has any places to stay. It’s a pretty desperate situation right now.”

Crill’s father, Michael Crill, said the worst part of the back-to-back hurricanes was not knowing if his daughter and her boyfriend were OK.

“They were holed up in a little house on the side of the hill and all we had to go by is what we’ve seen on TV and heard,” he said. “It was such a helpless feeling. There’s nothing that I can do. We just have to sit and wait.”

Sitting and waiting is exactly what Sarah Crill has been doing of late. As of Thursday afternoon, she was on standby for a flight departing Monday for Arizona, but with the frequency of cancellations, even that remains uncertain. One bright light in the whole ordeal is that Apolito was given the OK to start walking and Crill is confident that someday the couple will return to their careers on the sea.

“At some point we’re going to get back to boating. He’s been a boat captain for 15 years — it’s what he does, it’s what he’s good at,” she said. “I don’t think the islands will recover for a very long time.”

Michael Crill said he’s looking forward to the couple’s return to drier soil.

“They’ve been through a heck of an ordeal and it’s not over yet. I’m just blessed that they’re alive,” he said. “They have to start over. They’re going to come home — they don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Sarah Crill said she’s focused on getting home — and out of the hospital. Conditions at the medical center are less than ideal. With the power out, there’s no air conditioning and Crill described the 80-degree indoor conditions as “sweltering.” She’s spent more than a few nights sleeping on the hospital floor.

“All I can say is I’m super thankful we’re alive,” she said. “All those things are material and can be replaced.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss may be reached at 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.