As Prime Minister Perry Christie toured the island of Eleuthera yesterday he said he would do his best to help residents impacted by Hurricane Sandy, particularly those living in Governor's Harbour which experienced severe flooding, even going so far as to promise the island a new mini-hospital. While the waters in Governor's Harbour were relatively calm yesterday, residents said it was a different story when Sandy was battering the island last week. The road to and from the settlement, which is on the coastline, became impassible during the passage of Sandy, according to Central and South Eleuthera MP Damian Gomez.
In addition, the clinic in Governor's Harbour, which is close to the coastline, became nearly inaccessible, residents said. Minister of Labour Shane Gibson said the government hopes to break ground on the mini-hospital by December. Christie made the clinic his first stop as a part of his damage assessment tour of the island. "It is important for us to do this because I am flanked by colleagues who have been talking about replacing this clinic and providing an institution for all of Eleuthera," Christie said. Gibson said the government has tentatively selected a site for the new mini-hospital in Palmetto Point. "We anticipate that the process of selecting a contractor should be concluded before the end of this year and our goal is to have the groundbreaking at least before December this year," said Gibson.
He said the cost to build the mini-hospital could be between $10 to $12 million, adding that the government is also looking at building an administrative complex on the island as well. During the tour, Christie ran into former Eleuthera MPs Philip Bethel in Governor's Harbour and Oswald Ingraham in Rock Sound. Bethel said he was concerned about the level of flooding experienced in Governor's Harbour. "We had a real tidal wave here, but Eleuthera people are very resilient, we don't complain," Bethel said. "Over a three-day period we had a tidal flow in this particular area from the shopping center, the police complex straight up across to the administrative building."
The police station was submerged in about five feet of water after the storm passed, according to Bethel and government officials. In Rock Sound Philip McPhee, who is in charge of the airports on the island, said Sandy flooded the Rock Sound airport runway with about three feet of water. A lot of debris also accumulated on the runway. As the tour headed further south, the group encountered Reverend Dan Nixon, a farmer in Weymess Bight, who said he lost everything. "Unfortunately this time around I lost all of [my crops],"a distraught Nixon said.
"I do feel that I will bounce back, but if and when there is assistance needed and there is anything allotted to me, I would appreciate it." Christie told him that help would come, adding that Minister of Agriculture V. Alfred Gray had indicated that he would create a program that provides assistance to farmers wherever they are. Christie was scheduled to visit Sandy Point, Abaco but that did not happen. He spent the remainder of the day visiting the glass window bridge in North Eleuthera and the Cove Eleuthera Resort.
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