As Hurricane Sandy barrelled across the western coast of New Providence Thursday night, Nirvana owner Cedric Munnings could not sleep.
By dawn, much of what he had spent years developing was gone.
"Last night was rough," Munnings told The Nassau Guardian as he worked with cleanup crews yesterday to clear the substantial debris left behind by the late season storm.
Nirvana is a popular beach spot for churches, businesses and families, but in Sandy's wake, it has become a mangled mess.
"All the rooms were full of water," Munnings said.
"Then outside in the parking lot was three feet of water. In the back here we lost the patio, we lost the sports bar, and we lost some trees and the fence."
Munnings said Nirvana Beach Bar has been through its fair share of storms in its 38 years, but he did not expect such damage from Sandy, which at times had winds in excess of 100 miles per hour.
Chris Fox, who teaches music, said they lost about $200,000 worth of equipment and materials which were stored at Nirvana.
"We had sandbags about six feet high trying to stop the water to the front because the sea was coming in," Fox said.
"We were definitely prepared. We had rocks stacked on the sea front and, if you looked out there the storm moved the rocks.
"If we didn't have those rocks there we might have lost the house."
Along the western coast of New Providence, other residents told similar stories.
The floors of some homes were blanketed with sand and furniture was tossed about like rag dolls.
As emergency crews carried out their work along West Bay Street yesterday, area resident Roger Gomez Jr. said the road was completely covered in debris after Sandy.
Gomez was busy clearing his parent's driveway of rocks and fallen tree branches when The Guardian spoke with him. Across the road, the waves were crashing as the remnants of Sandy raged on.
"The whole of the house was flooded and the garage was flooded," said Gomez, who had trouble standing in the fierce wind.
"We're just trying to clean up the debris on the driveway first. We had to nail up some doors too.
"Some trees fell, a few things blew around and the tractors were around here early clearing up the road."
Across the street, Omar Munnings said the waves the night before were ferocious.
"When I arrived here at 5 o'clock this morning I met the waves from the sea crashing against the place and [they] actually plunged a rock into one of the windows," said Munnings, who also lives on West Bay Street.
"I had about five inches of water in the house as well."
Munnings added, "We have a lot of work to do when this storm is over, a whole lot of work."
From Saunders Beach to Go Slow Bend the waves were crashing onto the road yesterday.
The sand from Saunders Beach had washed onto the road and completely covered the ground of the nearby Shell gas station and blocked off a portion of the road for most of the morning.
Earlier this year the Ingraham administration spent $2.2 million to restore sand to the beach.
Piles of sand near Sandy Port made the road impassible yesterday morning and a police car got stuck.
Noted psychiatrist Dr. David Allen was busy clearing a portion of a fallen tree branch outside his West Bay Street home.
The branch was blocking a portion of the road.
He seemed cool about the storm, noting that if he had pruned the tree regularly he would not be outside with a team of workers trying to move it.
"This was a scary one though; the sea was raging and it just took our shutters, knocked them off, broke windows in the bedroom, and took, I mean, big clay pots and threw them up," Dr. Allen said.
"I think we need to look at the islands and say God bless them."

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