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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