Nate Berkus (decorating guy from Oprah) swept out to sea--But alive! WOW!

hentob

<font color=red>Sanita clogs are fabulous<br><font
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Dec 22, 2000
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This is terrifying--I hope they find his friend.



From CNN.com-- A celebrity interior decorator vacationing in Sri Lanka said Monday that all he could see was "utter devastation" in the wake of a deadly tsunami that slammed the island.

"We were completely devastated yesterday morning," Nate Berkus told CNN. "There was absolutely no warning."

Berkus, a regular contributor to "The Oprah Winfrey Show," said he and a friend were sleeping in a beachfront cottage at Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka's eastern coast when he heard a loud noise and the roof was ripped off.

Berkus, 33, said they were swept into the sea along with debris, animals and other people.

The two grabbed a telephone pole, he said, but lost their grips when a second large wave hit. Berkus told CNN that he climbed onto the roof of a home; his friend was missing.

Berkus said he and about 50 other survivors -- tourists and locals -- spent the rest of the night in a field, but were without water and food. Many of the group were injured, including a pregnant woman who had broken ribs, he said.

Members of the Sri Lankan army had taken a few of the injured away in helicopters, he said, and told the rest of the group that other helicopters would arrive at sunrise.

"It's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere," Berkus said. "I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK ... against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do."

Berkus said that lost everything he had with him.

"I'm sitting here with nothing -- no passport, no money, no anything, in shorts that somebody gave me ... the bottom line is, we desperately need help here."

Berkus is the founder of Nate Berkus Associates in Chicago, Illinois. He has made at least 20 appearances on "Oprah."
 
There are so many thousands of people dead, that it is miraculous that anyone that was near the sea is still alive.... This affected hundreds & hundreds of miles of seashore :guilty:
 
I was watching CNN when he was reporting and couldn't believe it was the same Nate that is featured on Oprah. What a horrifying experience for all those involved.
 

Wow. It's just so terrible. And to think he's not alone. There are thousands of stories just like his out there. My heart breaks for those people. They need our prayers.
 
My daughter has cousins, ages 3 and 10 (on her step-mom's side) that live in ****et. They were just here to visit over Thanksgiving. She came unglued when we saw the news. Fortunately, we were able to find out finally from her step-grandfather that they heard from the family, and that they were at the other end of ****et (it's an island) when the tsuname hit. But still, I can't imagine what must be going on around them :(

Just horrible, those poor people. Glad to hear Nate made it through, I hope they find his friend.
 


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