MIAMI (WSVN) - A Bahamian man who was taken to South Florida after he was injured as a result of Hurricane’s Dorian’s destruction said he lost his home, his arm and his mother in a matter of minutes.
Erick Auguste faces a long road to recovery as he remains at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
He spoke with 7News on Sunday about his tragic ordeal.
“I thank God that I saved the most that I could. I couldn’t save my mom,” he said.
Fighting through pain and loss, Auguste described the day when, he said, the Category 5 storm took everything.
“I don’t have nothing. It’s nothing left,” he said.
Auguste said he was with his family on Sept. 1 when the hurricane quickly moved in and unleashed catastrophic wind and rain.
“When I look over, I have glass in my house, and I look at the water, and the waves came, and the water was about this high,” he said as he pointed to his chest.
Aware that he was the only family member who could swim, Auguste began pulling his two small children, wife, sister and mother to safety.
“I grab onto the tree like this, and I was like, ‘We’ll make a chain,'” he said. “I was like, ‘Nobody leave,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t care whatever happens, do not let go of me.'”
When he reached for his elderly mother, Auguste said, he lost most of his left arm while attempting to grab her, and he was forced to watch the raging water sweep her away.
“This is when this piece of plywood flew off and cut the arm off when I’m lifting up so high,” he said. “By the time I’m looking, my eyes were open, and I saw her, and she was just smiling at me.”
Heartbroken and in disbelief, Auguste said he spent the next 14 hours in excruciating pain, with no medication, all while he continued to search for help.
“It’s like somebody just gets a knife and just keeps cutting, just run and get a saw, a dull knife and just keeps cutting,” he said.
When first responders arrived, they rushed Auguste to a nearby hospital. He was later sent to JMH, where he underwent multiple surgeries on his arm.
As he begins his long road to recovery, Auguste said he’d make the same decision again if it meant saving his mother’s life.
“It was for Mom. It was for Mom. If I had to do it again, I’d do it again,” he said.
Auguste’s wife, sister and children are staying with family in South Florida.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.