Bahamas death toll rises to at least 7 as Abaco Islands ‘decimated’ by Dorian

MIAMI >> After flying over the devastated islands of his country today, and seeing the death toll caused by Hurricane Dorian rise to seven, Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said his people had been through “hours and days of horror” and that the days and weeks to come would not be much easier.

“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history,” he said.

Joined by the leader of the opposition and the charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy, Minnis led a reconnaissance flight over the battered Abaco Islands, where he said more than 60% of the homes on the capital of Marsh Harbour had been decimated and that the shantytown known as The Mudd was completely wiped out.

Roadways resembled lakes and some airports were either under water or not accessible by land. Photos circulated by local news outlets showed swamp and rubble where the tropical paradise of the Abacos once stood. A group of 30 residents, trapped by flood waters in the Abaco Islands, were rescued today, he said. Others weren’t so lucky.

After announcing that five people had died and 21 had been injured in the Abaco Islands on Monday, Minnis said two others had succumbed to their serious injuries and died. That figure is expected to increase, he said, as search-and-rescue operations continue across the nation.

“Parts of Abaco are decimated,” he added. “There’s severe flooding to homes. There is severe damage to homes, businesses, other buildings and infrastructure.”

The southern part of Abaco suffered less devastation than the north.

“The area around the airport looks like a lake,” said Minnis, who announced that his government will be beefing up security on the island.

Minnis and his team had attempted to travel to Grand Bahama island but had to turn back due to the weather.

Once the flood waters recede, rescuers expect to find more bodies, said Marvin Dames, the Bahamian minister of national security.

“We’re at the beginning of this,” Dames told the Nassau Guardian. “This is a very unfortunate occurrence for us. Maybe the worst that we’ve experienced, certainly in our lifetime.”

By today 29 people had already been rescued, Dr. Duane Sands, the Bahamas’ minister of health, confirmed to the Miami Herald. A number of them were flown out of Abaco by the U.S. Coast Guard, which on Monday completed five medical evacuations from the Marsh Harbour clinic to Nassau. The Coast Guard also organized the reconnaissance flight for the prime minister and his team.

“Our priority at this time is search, rescue and recovery. I just want to thank all of those first responders who are acting with courage to save lives and to rescue those in need,” Minnis said.

He said a 600-foot Bahamian Navy vessel was scheduled to deliver food to the Abaco Islands tonight, and that the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency would distribute additional food to residents there Wednesday.

The undersecretary of the United Nations will visit the Bahamas on Wednesday to coordinate humanitarian relief, and a call is schedule with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minnis said.

While he said he has not spoken directly with President Donald Trump, he said the U.S. was “doing an excellent job with what is being provided.”

As Minnis took in the devastation from the air, everyone from rescue teams to airplane pilots waited on the all-clear to begin to assess the nightmare Dorian unleashed.

“There is (still) an active hurricane pummeling Grand Bahama,” Sands, who was on the reconnaissance flight, said as stranded residents, stuck in their attics and trapped by flood waters, continued to call into government broadcaster ZNS for help.

“When situations like this occur, you learn to appreciate family and life and trust that God will take care of it when you are not able to take care of it yourself because of the distance that makes you helpless,” said Jerry Butler, the Bahamas’ former executive director at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington.

Butler spent most of the storm trying to help his niece Alyssa, her mother and 6-year-old daughter get to higher ground after the first floor of Alyssa’s new home in Freeport, on Grand Bahama island, flooded. At first, she thought she would be fine, but then the water started coming into the ground floor. At 1:43 p.m. Monday she texted Butler to say the water was coming up to her window and she was trapped.

A truck was finally able to rescue the family. But soon after they arrived at the Gospel Church in Freeport, it too began flooding.

His niece is now on higher ground, Butler said, and reported that with the government still unable to get onto the islands, Grand Bahama residents were using tractors and personal watercraft to get to the east end of the island, where more residents were stranded.

Gayle Outten-Moncur, the acting permanent secretary responsible for operations at the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency, told ZNS Network that officials are aware that help is needed.

“We are waiting for the (meteorological) office to tell us what the winds are like, the weather is like, to get up there, to get your teams in there. It’s about safety first and saving lives and we want to be accurate,” Outten-Moncur said. “It’s a marathon, it’s not a race. It’s about being strategic and working with one voice, one operation, and many moving parts.”

Reports trickling in on social media suggested there was widespread devastation in the northern Bahamas. But authorities cautioned they could not say to what extent or put a price tag on the damage until they make a thorough assessment.

Mike Fernandez, a Coral Gables philanthropist and health care executive, flew into the Bahamas by helicopter today to drop off relief items in Marsh Harbour.

“There are few to no structures left untouched,” he said. “The runways in Abaco and Grand Bahama are under water and towers are inoperable.”

Bahamians continued to turn to social media today, circulating photos of family and friends still unaccounted for. In one group chat on WhatsApp that was set up for families searching for loved ones in the Abaco islands, more than 250 people posted more than 700 photos, links and documents after the group was formed on Monday.

Fort Lauderdale resident Walnide Saintilaire, 32, wanted to know if anyone had seen her father’s body. She was asking for a photo to confirm the news she heard: that he had died escaping his home in Murphy Town, Central Abaco, over the weekend.

“To be honest, I didn’t know it was going to be this bad,” she told the Herald.

Even the capital of Nassau was not spared Dorian’s wrath. Several neighborhoods were flooded and residents spent the day either mopping up or trying to get word on family members in the islands affected.

The Bahamas Red Cross, unable to get into either Abaco or Grand Bahama, sent out teams to flooded areas near Nassau to assess the damages, while other volunteers prepped supplies.

Residents documented widespread devastation from Grand Bahama to the Abaco Islands.

Sonia Miller, a lieutenant commander in the Royal Bahamian Defense Force, said rescuers were focusing on the Abaco Islands today.

“So as these (helicopters) bring injured persons out of Abaco, we’re going to inject Defense Force marines on those return flights to Abaco so that we can increase our manpower on that island,” she said, according to ZNS.

In Freeport, staff members that had hunkered down at the Humane Society of Grand Bahama were forced to evacuate today as flood waters rose outside. About 290 dogs and cats were at the shelter during the storm, and a number of them were left behind during the evacuation.

The shelter put out a call on its Facebook page today requesting the use of boats or high tractors to rescue the animals.