Bahamian teens in Metro Vancouver can only watch and worry as country struggles with aftermath of Dorian
Credit to Author: Gordon McIntyre| Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2019 01:34:13 +0000
Like the old mariner in the poem, residents of the Bahamas face the cruel irony of being surrounded by water with not a drop to drink as Hurricane Dorian slides northwestward after devastating large pockets of the archipelago.
Kendrick Russell, 18, is worried about his family in Freeport.
“My mom texted (on Monday) morning before her battery died and said they were OK,” Kendrick Russell, one of four Bahamians in the Burnaby-based Christian Prep basketball program, said.
The mom, dad, two brothers, cousins and friends of the Freeport 18-year-old are without food, electricity and potable water, but out of harm’s way.
Or so Russell thought.
“Then I heard the water was rising, so they were fine in the morning but I’m worried now and I haven’t heard back from my mom. My dad works for the power company and I haven’t heard from him yet, either.”
D’Ante Dean, 18, is from Nassau, which wasn’t hit as hard as Freeport, nor was Harbor Island, where 17-year-old Bradley Lightbourne is from, but their families are also without power and are rationing food.
“I’ve got a couple of friends in Freeport who are stranded on a roof,” Lightbourne said. “They’re stuck up there with no food or water and they need help ASAP.”
By noon Tuesday the storm had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane and began drifting northwest after hitting the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm on Sunday and leaving up to 76 centimetres of rain behind.
Video posted to social media and eyewitness accounts portray devastation in and around Freeport on Grand Bahama and on neighbouring Abacos Island, an area with a combined population of about 73,000.
Volunteers walk under the wind and rain from Hurricane Dorian through a flooded road as they work to rescue families near the Causarina bridge in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. The storm's punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters devastated thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.
Strong winds move the palm trees at the first moment of the arrival of Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Sunday Sept. 1, 2019.
Strong winds batter Oceanhill Boulevard in Freeport, as Hurricane Dorian passes over Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas September 2, 2019 in this still image taken from a video by social media.
A car is parked near a flooded house in Freeport in the Grand Bahamas on September 3, 2019, as hurricane Dorian passes. – Hurricane Dorian weakened slightly as it crawled towards the southeast coast of the United States on Tuesday after leaving at least five people dead and a swathe of destruction in the Bahamas.
Volunteers rescue a family from the rising waters of Hurricane Dorian, near the Causarina bridge in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. The storm's punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters devastated thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.
Debris is scattered on a flooded road near houses in Freeport in the Grand Bahamas on September 3, 2019, as hurricane Dorian passes. – Hurricane Dorian weakened slightly as it crawled towards the southeast coast of the United States on Tuesday after leaving at least five people dead and a swathe of destruction in the Bahamas.
A heavy crane drives down a flooded road in Freeport in the Grand Bahamas on September 3, 2019, as hurricane Dorian passes. – Hurricane Dorian weakened slightly as it crawled towards the southeast coast of the United States on Tuesday after leaving at least five people dead and a swathe of destruction in the Bahamas.
Rising waters cover cars on a road in Freeport in the Grand Bahamas on September 3, 2019, as hurricane Dorian passes. – Hurricane Dorian weakened slightly as it crawled towards the southeast coast of the United States on Tuesday after leaving at least five people dead and a swathe of destruction in the Bahamas.
Julia Aylen wades through waist deep water carrying her pet dogs as she is rescued from her flooded home during Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. Practically parking over the Bahamas for a day and a half, Dorian pounded away at the islands Tuesday in a watery onslaught that devastated thousands of homes, trapped people in attics and crippled hospitals.
Rain brought on by Hurricane Dorian continues to pour in Freeport, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. Practically parking over the Bahamas for a day and a half, Dorian pounded away at the islands Tuesday in a watery onslaught that devastated thousands of homes, trapped people in attics and crippled hospitals.
The eye of Hurricane Dorian remains near the city of Freeport, Bahamas in a satellite photograph distributed by the NOAA's National Weather Service September 2, 2019.
Volunteers rescue several families from the rising waters of Hurricane Dorian, near the Causarina bridge in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. The storm's punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters devastated thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.
Volunteers rescue several families that arrived on small boats, from the rising waters of Hurricane Dorian, near the Causarina bridge in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. The storm's punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters devastated thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.
At least five people were reported dead as of Tuesday afternoon, including an eight-year-old boy, and more were missing.
Survivors were without electricity food and water, and took refuge on roofs and in attics as Doria’s sustained winds of 177 kilometres an hour and gusts up to 282 kilometres an hour perversely pounded the same areas again and again.
The storm, the strongest hurricane to hit the Bahamas since modern record-keeping began in 1850 according to one U.S. researcher, moved just 50 kilometres over a 30-hour period on Monday and Tuesday.
The family of Bahamian Bradley Lightbourne is rationing food.
Homes and office buildings had their roofs ripped off, all the boats in Man-O-War Cay were washed ashore and smashed or sunk by the wind and waves, and vehicles were carried away by the relentless flood waters.
Iram Lewis, a member of Parliament in the Bahamas, shot a video of window-high waves rocking the Freeport International Airport like it was an island at sea.
Christian Prep’s Joshua Dames, a native of Freeport, said the hurricane is a good reminder that you can’t take anything for granted.
“I have friends trapped on the second floors of their homes with water around their feet,” the 18-year-old said. “My family is OK, but they’ve been surrounded by water and cut off from the road since Sunday with no food, no water, no electricity. I’m just happy everyone’s alive.
“You can always rebuild a house, even start your whole lives over again, but you can’t bring a life back.”
Bahamian D’Ante Dean, 16, is from Nassau.
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