MATHEW TOWN, Inagua - The people of Inagua appeared in good spirits yesterday, despite the fact that many of the island's buildings were severely damaged by Hurricane Ike, and there was no electricity and - up to press time - running water on the island.


Now residents are being forced to consider a future without its main employer to help them through.

On Tuesday, the condition of the airport at Mathew Town was evidence enough that a major disaster had recently occurred. The United States Coast Guard hangar at the airport was nearly torn in half and rendered completely useless, said U.S. Coast Guard Commander David Billburg yesterday.

Billburg said 15 Coast Guard personnel, two Drug Enforcement agents and four other law enforcement officers hunkered down in their barracks during Hurricane Ike as it tore through Mathew Town on Sunday. Billburg said the barracks were surprisingly unscathed by the tropical cyclone.


However, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force barracks was not as fortunate. On Tuesday, the doors and the roofs of several buildings were missing, and the buildings were completely uninhabitable.

The main road was lined with broken utility poles and destroyed transformers. Piles of shingles from houses and various debriswere made unidentifiable due to the extent of damage caused by Ike's up to 160 miles per hour wind gusts.

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company building on the island was barely recognizable through a mass of twisted steel and a fallen massive satellite dish, courtesy of the category four storm.




There was no regular phone service on the island yesterday. But the TDMA and GSM services worked exceptionally well.

The island's government complex, which housed several government agencies, was devastated by the storm, its roof detached and its furniture nowhere to be found.

The all-age school on Inagua was in similar shape. The roof of the primary school was severely damaged and the furniture was destroyed. The primary school, however, did much better than the high school. Its roof was about 80 percent destroyed by the storm, which led to three classrooms being wiped out due to the rain that came in after the roof disappeared, said Ministry of Education District Superintendent Joel Lewis.

He also told journalists yesterday that it would probably take about two weeks for officials to get the school back to normal.

The damage was pretty much uniform across the island yesterday, with some houses displaying worse damage than others, but few were left standing unscathed.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham arrived on the island around 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, accompanied by officials from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and various government ministers. At the airport, dozens of residents greeted the PM, who was also accompanied by Leader of the Official Opposition Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie.

"We've come to have a look," Ingraham said while taking a tour of the Morton Bahamas Limited salt plant, which was extensively damaged. "We have technical people here on the ground who are going to be doing detailed assessments as to what the government is going to be required to do. As far as we are aware, the water supply system is quite adequate for the moment. The public infrastructure will be tackled and dealt with."

Ingraham also brought tons of Red Cross and NEMA supplies to the island on the Bahamasair jet that flew him in. Minutes after the jet landed, those supplies were offloaded and distributed throughout the island.

Ingraham said the supply of electricity on Inagua was of great concern, and officials from the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) were looking into the matter. Ingraham said he had been told that power should be restored to the island by the end of the month.

That afternoon, BEC 's General manager Kevin Basden was seen driving around the island with two technicians, looking at the downed power lines. He said BEC was hoping to have power restored by the end of the month.

Ingraham also said the Ministry of Education should soon get the ball rolling in terms of putting the island's children back in classes.

"Education will make some decisions to cause students to return to classrooms in the shortest possible time," said Ingraham. "Whether or not that is in existing classrooms, some of the church halls or the buildings in the community, is a matter to be determined, but it is not expected that children in Inagua will be out of school for weeks hereafter. Major work needs to be done to some of their buildings, which have been condemned before now. That's going to take time to do. The restoration of the classrooms that they were using appears to be something that could be done reasonably speedily, depending on labor and material availability."

While the Ministry of Education figures out where to place kids in the next few weeks, they will, however, have one less place to play. Hurricane Ike also destroyed the public playground.

In a statement released late yesterday by PLP Chairman Glenys Hanna-Martin, who was among those in the PM's delegation to Inagua yesterday, she said the party "extends its sympathy to all those persons who have suffered loss as a consequence of natural disasters over the last few days."

"In particular, we hold in our prayers the people of Inagua, where today we saw considerable property damage and loss on that island," she said. "We urge all Bahamians to support the national effort in bringing restoration to those islands affected and we pledge our full assistance to the government's efforts in this regard."

Hanna-Martin also urged the party's members to "contribute generously as needed to the national agencies such as the Red Cross, or to deliver donated items to our national headquarters on Farrington Road, where we will ensure all goods reach affected areas expeditiously."

She added; "We stand in full solidarity and support with our brothers and sisters who are today seeking to recover from the terrible experience of being impacted by a major hurricane."

By JUAN MCCARTNEY

The Bahamas Postal Service has cut into the business of private couriers by as much as 15 to 20 percent over the last 12 months on the strength of an increasingly competitive express mail service ? one leveraging the department's membership in a massive international cooperative and the improved efficiency it fosters.

"Despite what people may think," said senior superintendent Jim LaRoda, "the Postal Service isn't just idling along.

"Over the last two years, we've made significant inroads in winning a bigger piece of the business now going to private couriers by demonstrating the kind of increased efficiency that translates into shorter turnaround times and greater consistency in meeting deadlines."

The revenue gains reflect the service's success in convincing a growing number of Bahamian businesses, especially retailers, to use its express mail service to import their wares. What LaRoda calculates as a eight to 10 percent revenue gain from retailers alone.

The sales pitch reeling in those customers focused not only on the cost-competitive edge of the public service and its quicker turnaround times but also the international Internet tracking system employed by the likes of FedEx and UPS, as well as post offices across the U.S. and Canada.

Those North American players are also part of the Universal Postal Union, and more specifically, a 150-country cooperative formed around the delivery of expedited mail and cargo. Membership allows the Bahamian post office to send its customers cargo place that even FedEx won't go, said LaRoda.

It also, in effect, keep his team on their toes, with all members agreeing to a comprehensive ratings system and the monthly as well as quarterly efficiency audits that decide them.

That system of double-checks ? audits being performed by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers ?continues to win The Bahamas a coveted Bronze rating.

"That shows that we are increasingly in the upper echelons of dependability," said LaRoda, suggesting the archipelagic nature of this country and the department's reliance on private air carriers will likely always present a challenge in terms of bringing absolute consistency to delivery times.

Still, this may be one instance where a Bahamian operation is well ahead of its First-World competitors in preparing for the revenue zap of the Internet.

While the U.S. Postal Service, in particular, has transformed its expedited mail service over the last year in an effort to compete with private sector players, it, in fact, has had very little choice given the reach of e-mail.

"Use of e-mail and Internet communication isn't yet as developed here in The Bahamas as in (developed) countries," Assistant Post Master General Robert Sumner told Guardian Business Monday. "We've actually seen an increase in the volume of regular mail we process over the last year, mostly from bills for credit cards and utilities, although we have seen a slight decrease in the amount of private mail being sent."

That overall revenue buffer is likely to dwindle as Bahamians increasingly call on Bahamian business to offer Internet payment options and even more of us keep in touch with friends and family without benefit of "snailmail".

"We are well aware of the electronic billing and its possible effect on volume," said Sumner, "but we probably won't see a significant decrease in demand as a result for another ten years given the level of computer literacy."

Nevertheless, he and LaRoda remain focused on diversifying their offerings now ahead of that sea-change.

"We are now developing a proposal to present to the private sector in order to better introduce them to our express services and how we can offer them a cost-effect strategy for receiving and shipping outside of using a courier and the need for a customs broker."

By VERNON CLEMENT JONES

000
WTNT34 KNHC 091151
TCPAT4
BULLETIN
HURRICANE IKE INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 33A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL092008
800 AM EDT TUE SEP 09 2008

...CENTER OF IKE APPROACHING WESTERN CUBA...

AT 800 AM EDT...1200 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS HAS
DISCONTINUED ALL WATCHES AND WARNINGS FOR THE CAYMAN ISLANDS.

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CUBAN PROVINCES OF
MATANZAS...LA HABANA...CIUDAD DE HABANA...PINAR DEL RIO...AND THE
ISLE OF YOUTH.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS FROM
OCEAN REEF SOUTHWARD TO THE DRY TORTUGAS...INCLUDING FLORIDA BAY.

INTERESTS IN THE YUCATAN PENINSULA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF
IKE.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 800 AM EDT...1200Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 22.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 82.4 WEST OR ABOUT 40 MILES...65
KM...SOUTH OF HAVANA CUBA.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH...20 KM/HR...AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF
DAYS. THE CENTER OF IKE SHOULD REACH THE SOUTH COAST OF WESTERN
CUBA IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS...AND EMERGE INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO
LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR THIS EVENING.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 80 MPH...130 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. IKE IS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE.
SOME STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE THIS MORNING BEFORE IKE MOVES OVER
WESTERN CUBA. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST TO OCCUR AFTER
IKE REACHES THE GULF OF MEXICO.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 35 MILES...55 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 195
MILES...315 KM.

THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE PLANE WAS 965
MB...28.50 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 4 TO 7 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE
EXPECTED IN AREAS OF ONSHORE WINDS EAST OF IKE ALONG THE SOUTHERN
COAST OF CUBA. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 1 TO 3 FEET...ALONG WITH
LARGE AND DANGEROUS WAVES...ARE POSSIBLE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS.

LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY IKE WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT PORTIONS OF
THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES COAST DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.
THESE WAVES COULD GENERATE DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING RIP
CURRENTS.

IKE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES
OVER CUBA...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF UP TO 20 INCHES
POSSIBLE. THESE RAINS ARE LIKELY TO CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH
FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES OVER MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. RAINFALL
ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE CAYMAN
ISLANDS. RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER
THE FLORIDA KEYS.

ISOLATED TORNADOES AND WATERSPOUTS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE FLORIDA
KEYS AND EXTREME SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY.

REPEATING THE 800 AM EDT POSITION...22.4 N...82.4 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...80
MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...965 MB.

THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT
1100 AM EDT.

$$
FORECASTER FRANKLIN

As residents in the northwestern Bahamas were busy preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Hanna on Wednesday, meteorologists dropped another bombshell when they revealed that Ike, which is on a similar track as Hanna, had become a category one hurricane.

In a weather alert issued at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, The Bahamas meteorological office revealed that Ike had become the fifth Hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

At 5:00 p.m. the center of Hurricane Ike was located about 670 miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands.

"Ike is moving toward the west-northwest near 18 miles per hour and this general motion is expected to continue through tonight and early Thursday followed by a turn to the west on Thursday, taking Ike over the open waters of the west-central Atlantic ocean during the next couple of days," the alert said. "It is too early to determine what if any land areas might be eventually affected by Ike."

Maximum sustained winds had increased to near 80 miles per hour with higher gusts.

"Ike is a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale," according to the alert. "Some strengthening is forecast during the next day or two. Hurricane force winds extend outwards up to 160 miles."

Meanwhile, Hurricane alerts for the northern Bahamas were upgraded to warnings as Hanna took aim.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for the central and northwest Bahamas, including Grand Bahama, Bimini, Abaco, New Providence, Andros, the Berry Islands, Eleuthera, Cat Island, the Exuma and its cays, Long Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador.

A hurricane warning means that winds in excess of 73 miles per hour could be experienced in the warning area within 24 hours.

Hurricane warnings were downgraded to tropical warnings for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Island, which were left drenched by Hanna over the last several days.

There was some good news, however, as Tropical Storm Josephine started to weaken.

At 5 pm the center of Tropical Storm Josephine was 375 miles west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands. Josephine was moving towards the west near 13 miles per hour and a motion between the west and northwest is forecast during the next couple of days.

"Maximum sustained winds have decreased to 60 miles per hour with higher gusts," a weather alert indicated. "Little change in strength is forecast during the next 24 hours, but weakening is expected to begin tomorrow."

Tropical force winds extended outward up to 105 miles from the center.

In the wake of Hanna approaching the northwestern Island and Ike becoming a hurricane NEMA officials again took to the airwaves and cautioned residents to be prepared.

Interim director of NEMA Comm. Stephen Russell reiterated the call for residents to be prepared.

"These storms are coming fast and furiously and everyone must be prepared because there is no telling what could happen," he said Wednesday during a live broadcast to the nation at the Port department. "Get everything you need because it looks like this is going to be a very active season after all."

By NAVARDO SAUNDERS