Thousands of displaced people are living in “rapidly
deteriorating” conditions in the worst-hit parts of the Bahamas
six days after Hurricane Dorian made landfall, the United
Nations World Food Programme warned on Saturday.
The warning came as aid groups rushed emergency help to
the storm-ravaged islands and officials warned a death toll of
43 was likely to spike higher as the number of missing among
the archipelago nation’s 400,000 residents becomes clear.
Even as the aid ships and aircraft headed in, thousands fled
the devastation, some abandoning hard-hit Great Abaco Island
to seek safety in the capital, Nassau, and others heading to
Florida for shelter, supplies and perhaps jobs.
Some 90 percent of the homes, buildings and infrastructure in
Marsh Harbour, where Dorian rampaged for almost two full
days as one of the strongest Caribbean hurricanes on record,
were damaged, the World Food Programme said. It noted that
thousands of people were living in a government building, a
medical center and an Anglican church that survived the
storms, but had little to no access to water, power and sanitary
facilities.
“The needs remain enormous,” WFP spokesman Herve
Verhoosel said in an email Saturday. “Evacuations are slowly
taking place by ferry, as hundreds of residents reportedly flee
daily.”
One of those who fled Abaco was 19-year-old Isaiah Johnson,
who was staying in a hotel in Nassau with his mother and three
sisters after the storm’s 200 mile per hour (320 kph) winds
destroyed their homes.
A wealthy friend had paid for a two-week stay, but after that it
was unclear where they would go.
His mother was already searching for work in the United
States, Johnson said, reckoning that jobs would be hard to
find in Nassau.
“Two weeks might be enough time for me to figure things out,”
Johnson said on Saturday. “For my mom, I’m not so sure.”
A cruise ship with more than 1,000 evacuees arrived in south
Florida on Saturday. Some had small children or aging relatives
who they hoped to find safe lodging for before returning to try
to repair or rebuild their island homes.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were shipping in relief
supplies and had already rescued some 290 people from
isolated areas in the islands. The U.S. Agency for International
Development said it raised its allocation of aid to the Bahamas
by $1 million, to $2.8 million in total and had moved enough
emergency supplies for 44,000 people to the islands.
Some 70,000 people were in need of food and shelter, the
WFP estimated, and private forecasters estimated that some
$3 billion in insured property was destroyed or damaged in the
Caribbean.
Dorian pounded parts of North Carolina’s Outer Banks Islands
on Friday. On Saturday, Sue Jones, a 22-year resident of the
town of Frisco on the islands, said a storm surge sent 14 to 16
inches (36 to 40 cm) of water into the lowest level of her
home, and she spent the day cutting sheetrock from the walls
and clearing out water.
By 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), Dorian was a still-powerful post-
tropical cyclone with 100 mile per hour (160 kph) winds,
equivalent to the wind speed of a Category 2 hurricane, the
National Hurricane Center said.
It was located about 50 miles (80 km) south-southwest of
Halifax, Nova Scotia, at that time and due to make landfall in
the next few hours, the NHC said.
Dorian hit the Bahamas earlier in the week with Category 5
winds, with some gusts topping 200 miles per hour (320 kph).
LARGE NUMBER OF DEAD FEARED
The medical chief of staff at Princess Margaret Hospital in
Nassau, Dr. Caroline Burnett-Garraway, said two refrigerated,
40-foot trucks would be needed to hold the “staggering”
number of bodies that were expected to be found.
The American Red Cross said it had committed an initial $2
million to help the Bahamas recover from the hurricane, with
food, water and shelter and other necessities.
“Our relief operation is growing, but we are also facing serious
challenges in terms of delivering aid,” Red Cross
spokeswoman Jennifer Eli said. “Even search-and-rescue
choppers haven’t been able to reach some people because
there’s no place to land.”
Near an area called The Mudd in Marsh Harbour, a commercial
hub, a Reuters witness reported most houses leveled, the
body of a man lying near a main street and dead dogs floating
in water.
The risk of outbreaks of diarrhea and waterborne diseases is
high as drinking water may be tainted with sewage, according
to the Pan American Health Organization.
Travis Newton, a 32-year-old carpenter who survived the
storm in Marsh Harbour, said he arrived in Nassau on Saturday
morning with his family, trying to find a safe place to live.
He said residents of the town foraged for food and water in the
wreckage of damaged stores after the storm passed.
“We had to survive, we had to make it happen, we had to find
food, water, where we were aid couldn’t get to us, we had to
find what we could from the damaged stores,” Newton said.
“Everybody needs to get out of that place.”
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such a disaster, -many of the missing will never be found, -it could be thousands of people, what about the animals, the dogs, cats, horses,- all animals ??
sharks are in those waters...
as I've observed the footage I've yet to see a stray dog running around ??
the bad news is that the hurricane season just started, I'm afraid there's more to come...
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