..... no power ..... but no problem
we should be at the Schooner Wharf for a cocktail before six
Prayers for all of those in Rita's path
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Locals flock to Grotto as storms nears
BY TRACI C. RORK
Citizen Staff
KEY WEST - In one of the most hurricane vulnerable cities in North America, it doesn't take new residents long to learn about the city's secret for deflecting tropical storms - The Grotto.
A shrine fashioned after the famous grotto at Lourdes, France, it was built at the direction of Sister M. Louis Gabriel three years after the 1919 hurricane killed more than 800 people in the Florida Keys.
Gabriel, who had lived through three destructive hurricanes, built the grotto and dedicated it to Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette. She did so with the hopes and prayers that the island would escape devastation from future storms. So far, it has worked.
Knowing that the community has flocked to the Grotto since 1922, the congregation held a 5 p.m. Mass there Monday to pray for safety.
For Jo Anne Robertson and Janis Scholfield, both Duffy's Restaurant employees, lighting a candle at the grotto is an integral part of their preparations.
"It's always worked for me," Scholfield said while completing her ritual, and her confidence is present in the hearts of many grotto visitors.
With what was then Tropical Storm Rita quickly approaching, even those closest to God were buying batteries.
"Oh my gosh," the Rev. Francisco J. Hernandez-Arenas of St. Mary Star of The Sea Catholic Church said early Monday afternoon when he finally sat down. "I just got back from buying supplies and heard the storm could reach Category 3 strength; we're still cleaning up from Hurricane Katrina."
After the grotto service, the church will close and board up like the rest of the Keys and wait, or evacuate depending on how things progress.
Father Paco Hernandez, as he's affectionately called, said he will be staying for the storm despite Mayor Jimmy Weekley's warnings, but many of the church employees will be evacuating.
"I have been here for three and a half years and want to be here to help after the storm," Hernandez said.
trork@keysnews.com
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WooHoo! You go girl...thanks for checking in. Take care.
I hope your cocktail hour projection is correct. In Islamorada we just got a really nasty squall. By 6 I will be more than ready for cocktails!! In fact I could have one now.
There is a big frog ribbiting his heart out on my front steps. I guess the worst is over if he's singing away. :-)
LBelle
I remember back in 1998 Hurricane Georges slammed the Keys, and it took weeks for them to get back to just be able to have tourists back.