Dorian-struck Bahamas reports 2,500 people unaccounted for
SOME 2,500 people are unaccounted for in the Bahamas follow ing Hurricane Dorian, t he archipelago’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Wednesday.
NEMA spokesman Carl Smith told reporters that some of the missing people may eventually be located.
“At t his point, t here are approx imately 2,500 indiv idua ls registered on the Bahamian government register (of missing people),” Smith said.
“This list has not yet been checked against government records of who are stay ing in shelters or who have been evacuated,” he said.
“Some i ndiv idua ls who have been evacuated f rom Abaco a nd Gra nd Ba ha ma have not yet reg istered wit h socia l ser v ices,” Smit h sa id. “As we ca n cross-reference our data set s, we wi l l be able to i nfor m fa mi ly members a nd reu nite su r v ivors wit h loved ones.”
Approx imately 76,000 people were a f fected by Doria n, t he UN’s Internat iona l Organizat ion for Migrat ion (IOM) has sa id, cit i ng of ficia l repor ts. Of t hese, t housa nds have been evacuated a nd about 860 a re in emergency shelters in t he capita l cit y of Nassau.
At least 50 people died in t he hurricane, which slammed into the northern Bahamas as a Categor y 5 storm, and officia ls have said they expect t he number to rise significantly.
“We’re not going to speculate on what the final numbers will be,” Smith said. “We understand t hat people are concerned and so are we.”
The NEMA spokesman said more than 5,500 people have been evacuated so far from the northern Bahamas islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco, which were devastated by the storm.
‘We need many hands here’
He said that over the past day or so there had been a “significant reduction,” however, in the numbers of people seek ing to leave.
“Ever ybody left and they shouldn’t have lef t. Unfortunately, because we need many hands here to work,” said Rhonda Hull, a law yer, standing near t he water’s edge and its shredded palm trees. “But people will come back.”
With a truck on its side behind him, Ir v in Russell said he loves “his island” and has to stay to see it rebuilt.
“This is just a bump in t he road. It’s a big one, but Abaconians they are fighters, t hey will rebuild,” he said.
Smith said that permission was being given to resume commercial flights to Abaco on a “limited basis,” but priorit y would be given to relief and evacuation flights.
The NEMA spokesman said Abaco’s power grid had suffered extensive damage.
“Marsh Harbour power station was destroyed,” he said of t he largest town on the island of more than 15,000 people.
An official with Bahamas Power and Light Ltd said electricit y to t he south of Abaco could be restored in about three weeks but it may be a few months before t he rest of t he island gets power.
Dorian likely caused bet ween $ 3.5 and $ 6.5 billion in insured damages in the Caribbean, most notably i n the Bahamas, California-based risk modelling and analy tics firm RMS said on Monday.
Af ter sow ing mass dest r uct ion across t he isla nd, Hurrica ne Dorian delivered one fina l blow: a n oi l spi l l at t he Nor wegia n Equinor faci lit y.
Dozens of residents of the small town of High Rock have set up tents among the rubble that was once their homes, where they div v y up meagre handouts that come their way.
They sur v ive amid t he disaster, but now, adding insult to injur y, t hey fea r t hat t he air t hat t hey breat he and the water that they drink is not safe.
Residents say t he water filters t hey were given are not useful against the tox icit y.
The oil is “deadly, deadly,” said Marco Roberts, 38, holding a mask and lamenting the poisoned state of his isla nd.
Si x k m away the ground is saturated wit h a black, t hick paste.
“The oil is lea k ing in t he water, and now you can’t bathe in the water, or you can’t drink the water. The only water we can bathe in is what you a ll give us,” he said.