WATCH: At Least Seven People Reported Dead in Bahamas in Dorian Aftermath, Toll Expected to Rise
By Space Coast Daily // September 4, 2019
'The reality of it all is, unfortunately, we will see more deaths. I can’t see any way out of it.'
WATCH: The Red Cross said more than 13,000 houses, or about 45 percent of the homes in Grand Bahama and Abaco, were likely severely damaged or destroyed, according to the Associated Press. The agency said some 62,000 people on the hard-hit islands are without clean drinking water, and U.N. officials said more than 60,000 will need food. (Brandon Clement video)
At least seven people had been reported dead, but Bahamas Minister of National Security Marvin Dames said Tuesday that number will most likely rise.
“I caution Bahamians everywhere that chances that we find more persons dead, those chances are real,” Dames said.
“The reality of it all is, unfortunately, we will see more deaths. I can’t see any way out of it.”
Minnis said there were also numerous injuries, and that some victims had been taken to a hospital on New Providence island.
The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted at least 21 people injured on Great Abaco.
The storm lashed the islands at major hurricane strength for an unprecedented 36 hours and smashed homes into piles of debris as far as the eye could see.
On houses that were left standing, the Category 5 storm ripped off roofs or tore chunks out of them.
Water covers nearly every square foot of land. Yachts and 50-foot shipping containers have been scattered like toys. Floodwaters cover the runways at the airport in Marsh Harbour.
“It’s like we just need to be rescued and put on another island to start over again. Complete devastation,” Cindy Russell, a resident of Marsh Harbour, told the Nassau Guardian.
The Red Cross said more than 13,000 houses, or about 45 percent of the homes in Grand Bahama and Abaco, were likely severely damaged or destroyed, according to the Associated Press.
The agency said some 62,000 people on the hard-hit islands are without clean drinking water, and U.N. officials said more than 60,000 will need food.
“It’s total devastation. It’s decimated. Apocalyptic. It looks like a bomb went off,” Lia Head-Rigby, who helps run a local hurricane relief organization and flew over the Bahamas’ hard-hit Abaco Island, told the AP.
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Related Story:U.S. Coast Guard Set to Deploy Crews and Assets for Hurricane Dorian Response in Bahamas
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