When British Virgin Islands solicitor Dan Wise and his family hunkered down in their two-story home to wait for Hurricane Irma, they never imagined the surreal story of survival that would follow.

After hours of wind and rain and the loss of a window, they thought the storm was over when the sky cleared over their home in the British Virgin Islands. They went outside and chatted with neighbors, but soon the winds picked up and they ran back inside, realizing the clear skies and calm was merely temporary—the eye of the storm.

Courtesy photo

Soon, they could see the whole roof starting to heave, as if it were breathing. The house began to vibrate and then Wise's children, ages 6 and 8, watched their roof sail away. An entire doorway of sliding metal shutters that covered their high impact French doors blew in. They ran to the laundry room on the first floor, which had a concrete ceiling. Wise sat there for a long time with his back against the door, bracing his feet to keep the vibrating door from bursting in, while his children hid under pillows. Every window in the house blew out. Then came hours of driving rain that soaked everything they had, except for the children's mattresses, which had been wrapped in plastic.