Shantytown dwellers among hardest hit by Dorian
Lugging empty suitcases, plastic buckets and backpacks, dazed survivors of Hurricane Dorian made their way back to the shantytown where they used to live, hoping to gather up some of their soggy belongings.
The community was known as The Mudd – or ‘‘Da Mudd,’’ as it’s often pronounced – and it was built by thousands of Haitian migrants over decades. It was razed in a matter of hours by Dorian, which reduced it to piles of splintered plywood and two-by-fours up to 2m deep, spread over an area equal to several football fields.
A helicopter buzzed overhead yesterday as people picked through the debris, avoiding a body that lay tangled underneath a tree branch next to twisted sheets of corrugated metal, its hands stretched toward the sky. It was one of at least nine bodies that people said they had seen in the area.
‘‘Ain’t nobody come to get them,’’ said Cardot Ked, a 43-year-old carpenter from Haiti who has lived 25 years in Abaco. ‘‘If we could get to the next island, that’s the best thing we can do.’’
Ked was one of thousands of desperate people seeking help in Dorian’s aftermath. With winds of 295kmh, the hurricane obliterated houses on the Bahamas’ Abaco and Grand Bahama islands, home to some 70,000 people.
The official death toll from the government stood at 30 and was certain to climb.
Search-and-rescue operations and an international humanitarian effort to help the victims picked up speed, with emergency officials fanning out across the stricken areas and tracking down people who were missing or in distress. Crews began clearing streets and setting up distribution centers for food and water.
‘‘That is moving extremely well,’’ said National Security Minister Marvin Dames. ‘‘This is not our first time around the track.’’
A British Royal Navy ship docked in the Abaco islands distributed supplies to hurricane survivors. The United Nations announced the purchase of eight tons of ready-to-eat meals and said it will provide satellite communications equipment and airlift storage units, generators and prefab offices to set up logistics hubs for helping the estimated 76,000 people who will need food and other relief.
In Grand Bahama, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship dropped off 10,000 meals, 10,000 bottles of water and more than 180 generators, as well as diapers and flashlights.
Crews in Grand Bahama worked to reopen the airport and used heavy equipment to pick up branches and palm fronds. Lines formed outside gas stations and grocery stores.
‘‘People will be out of jobs for months,’’ 67-year-old wood carver Gordon Higgs lamented. ‘‘They’ll be homeless, no food. Nothing. The Bahamas has become like a Third World country.’’
Total property losses, not including infrastructure and autos, could reach US$7 billion (NZ$11b), the firm Karen Clark & Co. estimated.
Yesterday, medical officials moved hundreds of people left homeless by the storm out of the main hospital in Abaco to shelters in schools and other government buildings.
Some were angry at being asked to leave, or at not being allowed to freely enter to visit hurt relatives, and a shouting match erupted at the main door between a small group of hurricane victims and Bahamas marines.
Abaco and Grand Bahama islands are known for their marinas, golf courses and allinclusive resorts and are home to many fishermen, labourers and hotel workers.
Samson Kersint, a 38-year-old who worked in a lumberyard and has been in the Bahamas since 1998, was among those who lost their homes in the dirt-path shantytown.
‘‘We walking like zombies,’’ he said as he walked around The Mudd with a backpack. ‘‘We ain’t find no one to talk to us. Ain’t no water, no light.’’ –AP Air Force officials are investigating after an A-10C Thunderbolt II fighter jet on a training mission accidentally fired a rocket near Tucson.
Officials at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base say the M-156 rocket landed yesterday in a remote desert canyon near Mt Graham.
They say there were no injuries, damage or fires from the accidental launch of the white phosphorus projectile in the Jackal Military Operations Area, which is about 100km northeast of Tucson.
White phosphorus is used by the military in various types of ammunition to produce smoke for concealing troop movement and to identify targets.
The A-10C Thunderbolt II was assigned to the 354th Fighter Squadron from the 355th Wing.
–AP