Severe weather ripped through portions of southeastern New Providence yesterday morning, ripping down power lines and trees and causing roof damage to some buildings.
Although some residents thought a tornado touched down in their area, Basil Dean, deputy director of the Department of Meteorology, said the damage was most likely caused by tropical storm force winds.
"We had rather heavy thunderstorms which moved through the northwest Bahamas which I suspect spawned some straight line gust winds -- as opposed to a tornado -- which could have been anywhere up to 40 miles per hour and that is certainly capable of doing minor roof damage."
The bad weather also caused damage in some areas.
Dean said the weather should persist until this afternoon.
"The unsettled conditions will remain with us through Monday but by Monday afternoon we expect it to be in the central parts of the country," he said.
When The Nassau Guardian visited Malcolm Road yesterday, residents were carting away debris, patching up damaged roofs and assessing the storm's damage.
There were also reports of roof damage and torn trees on Marshall Road, Zion Boulevard and East Street South.
Celeste Ware, a homeowner who lives on Malcolm Road, said she awoke yesterday morning to find half of her roof missing.
"I woke about 2:30 this morning to loud wind," Ware said. "Then my husband and I went to the window and I heard a noise. We thought it might have been a tornado but we weren't sure.
"When we went into the hallway we looked up in the sky and said 'Oh my God, the roof is gone'.''
Homeowner Derek Rolle said flying tree branches smashed through three of the windows on the west side of his home around 2 a.m.
"I thought it was just a regular thunderstorm," said Rolle, who was busy clearing debris from his yard when The Nassau Guardian arrived on the scene.
"Then when I looked outside [and] I saw the trees were really carrying on bad; it must have been high-speed winds.
"Then I saw branches flying, so immediately I moved away from the windows."
Johnny Johnson, owner of Johnson Bargain Foods on Malcolm Road, lost most of his store's roof because of the storm. He said luckily the contents of the store were not damaged by rain.
"When I got up this morning and I came out, half of the roof was gone," he said.
Several politicians were canvassing the area yesterday and pledged to help residents.
"We're going to provide a dumpster and also see how we can assist those families that had damage," said Bamboo Town MP and Democratic National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney.
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Golden Gates MP Shane Gibson said he was organizing emergency crews and flatbed trucks to come to the area.
Renward Wells, the PLP's candidate for Bamboo Town, said the country's building codes need to be revised to ensure that homes can withstand such strong winds.
"We build for category five hurricanes but it now looks like we now have to look at the building code as to how we begin to strengthen our structures for tornado activities."
Winsome Miller, the Free National Movement's candidate for Golden Gates, said her group would do a full assessment on the damage and offer help where needed.
Crews from the Bahamas Electricity Corporation were working yesterday to restore power to Malcolm Road and other areas in south and eastern New Providence.
* More images of Saturday's storm in our online gallery at : http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=featured&Itemid=74

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