Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that the government is prepared to move into those Family Islands devastated by Hurricane Joaquin and provide assistance as early as today. National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director Captain Stephen Russell said the Department of Meteorology advised that Joaquin, a category four storm, is expected to leave The Bahamas by 10 a.m. today.

Christie called a special Cabinet meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday to map out a plan of assistance. As he did so, Joaquin, then moving at three miles per hour, was bombarding San Salvador, Rum Cay and Long Island with heavy rains and wind speeds of up to 130 miles per hour.

Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said his officers on Long Island had to reportedly rescue several residents who were trapped in their homes.

“It is very clear to all that there will be substantial impacts on our country’s infrastructure and therefore a major requirement of the central government to be able to restore the status quo and to be able to bring our people back to the standard that they were used to,” said Christie following the Cabinet meeting.

Christie was surrounded by senior officials including Captain Russell, Greenslade, BTC CEO Leon Williams, Bahamas Electricity Corporation General Manager Kevin Basden and Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Tellis Bethel.

“We did this because we wanted to ensure that we are fully prepared to meet whatever is necessary once we have the opportunity to ascertain the current conditions in the aftermath of the impacts of Acklins and Crooked Island and on the islands that are currently now being subjected to 130 mph winds,” Christie said.

“We understand that Long Island was being subjected to extraordinary challenges.

“It has to be admitted that as of a certain hour yesterday (Thursday) there were no communications with Acklins and later on in the evening we lost communication with Crooked Island.”

Christie said there have been no reports of injuries or loss of life in the islands.

“We were advised that there were people who had gone from Acklins to Samana Cay and we are waiting obviously to hear as to their safety,” he said. “We have no doubt that as we are speaking and waiting for communications to be restored that every effort is being made to confirm safety of those persons.”

Captain Russell said NEMA was only able to speak with residents on Acklins and was unable to make contact with Long Island.

“Plans are well in motion to provide some immediate response to all persons in the affected areas,” he said.

“As soon as practical we will try and get reconnaissance aircraft or helicopters with the assistance of some of our partners into those areas. Once we get the all clear, we hope to, by Sunday, mount our damage assessment missions into these islands. We have a number of aircraft on stream that we will seek to charter.

“The prime minister and his team will accompany NEMA into those disaster stricken areas so that we can get a bird’s eye view of the state of damage in the islands. We pray that all is well with all those persons in those islands.”

Russell said there have been reports of significant flooding and structural damage to homes on Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Island.

As for New Providence, Christie said only the eastern end of the island will experience some form of adverse weather.

“We have been advised that in the eastern end of New Providence there would be winds up to 40 miles per hour subsiding as we move later into the afternoon and early evening,” he said.

Assistance
Greenslade said he spoke with officers on Long Island who reported that the police station on the island was flooded. He said the officers spent much of the day rescuing residents who were trapped in their homes due to significant flooding.

Commodore Bethel said the Defence Force has six vessels engaged in hurricane avoidance exercises. He said as soon as the weather clears the boats will replenish and transport officers to the islands to lend assistance and “help bring some normalcy in these Family Islands”.

Williams said communications on Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Islands remained a challenge.

“We had a report of a cable station being damaged in Crooked Island,” he said. “The roof has blown off so the cable equipment has been exposed to water. That poses a challenge for us.

“We lost a tower in Crooked Island. We’ve had staff who have roof damage. Our difficulty, however, is that we are not able, like BEC, to get our staff out because it is not safe at this time.”

He said a team of BTC officials remains on standby to lend assistance as soon as the all clear is given.

BTC will also credit those residents on affected islands by putting money on their phones, Williams said.

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