Park Bench Man " Tossed Like a Salad" by Hurricane Ike

The threat is anything but theoretical, as Daryl Thompson learned Saturday after making what he admitted was a bad decision.

Not only did he choose to ride out Hurricane Ike, but he did so outdoors. “I thought about going to the shelter,” Mr. Thompson, who is homeless, said as he pushed his bike with two large water-logged bags balanced on top. “But I waited too long, then I was trapped.”

Mr. Thompson said that at one point the wind was so strong that he kept getting blown off his feet. So he lay down underneath a park bench.

“I thought I might die,” he said. “This thing tossed me like a salad.”

The storm tossed much of the island the same way.

Along the seaway, wooden debris was stacked up like barricades, and things were askew in that way that only big storms can accomplish.

Dozens of palm trees were bent over. A boat sat in the middle of a road near 49th Street, even though no water flowed down the street. At the cemetery, statues of saints and the heads of white tombstones barely extended above muddy water.