B-V-I
Guide, September 19, 1999
Bahamas
hard hit Tuesday, September 14, by
the full blunt of massive Hurricane Floyd over its 700 small, low-lying
islands (see
map). After the storm, assessments started
being made and aftermath disaster aid organized
with limited resources available (BBC
story and CNN
story). See Hurricane
Floyd Bulletins for ongoing damage and relief
reports from BahamasNet. Relief Donations.
BahamasNet has info
on donations for Abaco and more generally.
More specific info on the donation of money,
materials and supplies can be found at the Abaco
Bahamas Message Board.
Casualties.
One death is confirmed at Freetown when a person
swam from a flooded car (CNN
story) and another death occurred a person
was electrocuted when power was restored after
the storm. Two people were reported missing at
Abaco (Reuters story).
Nassau
and Paradise Island experienced 70-80
mph winds with higher gusts and generally fared
"better" being some distance from the
center on the "good" side of Floyd. See
Official
Bahamas Storm Center Update.
San Salvadore,
Cat, Eleuthera and Abaco Islands (see
map) were direcly in the path of the eye or
on the "bad" side of Floyd. Damage
varied with some places reporting catastrophic
damage, winds of 135 mph and gusts up to 190 and
many instances of serious structural and/or flood
damage. See Updates
from the Bahamas, Storm99
photos and the NHC
Disaster Message Service for Floyd.
Abaco
Islands suffered some of the worst
damage. See Marsh
Harbour report ("the jewel of the
Bahamas has been totally transformed"), Abaco
Damage Significant, Elbow
Cay report, Marsh
Harbour report and Important
Treasure Cay Update from the Abaco
Bahamas Message Board. See
photos.
Crossing Rocks
on Great Abaco lost its whole settlement (CNN
story). "The old section of
Crossing Rocks, on the Atlantic side midway
between Cherokee Sound and Hole-in-the-Wall, was
flattened, and the newer section of the community
suffered flooding but little structural damage,
according to reports (Hurricane
Floyd Bulletins)."
Elbow Cay, one of a series of
small outlying cays off the northwestern side of
the Abacos (see
map), has an area that have been
completely taken by the ocean, and houses across
the road are now directly on or hanging over the
ocean. A new inlet has been reported creating two
islands in the place of one.
White Sound. "Most
serious damage appears to be to the White Sound
area of Elbow Cay. The area just to the south of
the Abaco Inn through to (but not including)
"Third Sunrise" has been wiped
out...just gone..... All the houses along this
stretch have been destroyed and replaced by a
"flat white beach. In some cases there is no
evidence that a house was ever there (see an aerial report from Hurricane
Floyd Reports)." See also Map
(the Abaco Inn is #48) and "Before
Photo). Here are some
"After
Photos" and a Report
of going through the storm. Actually two
houses remain in the area described above.
Those seeking info on family and friends can
post on the Pleas for
Help message board.
The eye passed
over Abaco at 5 pm AST Tuesday was about 25 miles wide
and had taken somewhat over 2 hours to pass,
according to one report. There was no power and
telephone at that time, but ham radio reports
were relayed to message boards.
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