NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Family Island Administrators in Grand Bahama and Abaco said storm prep ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole which is expected to develop into a category one hurricane by the time it reaches The Bahamas.
The storm is the 14th named in the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season; and as hurricane warnings are issued, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its affiliated partners have been in storm preparation mode over the last 24 hours.
Grand Bahama, is currently in the direct path of the storm. Island Administrator for West End, Ricardo Ferguson said that he has been in several meetings with officials on the island and those in the capital as they get everything in order in preparation for the storm’s passing.
“We do a briefing tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 7 o’ clock via WhatsApp with all the council members to get an update on their area but as far as I know, from the meeting we had this morning we have things that we have put in place and so we are more or less ready to go.”
Ferguson said residents have also been seeking information from various agencies, departments and the administrators office for items needed to secure their belongings and information about shelters.
“The calls that we’re getting basically pertain to tarps, tarps for roofs which we are basically, we’re really out because we’ve already given what we had.”
He explained that their greatest challenge would be in evacuating people from low-lying areas, therefore they are working on transportation for everyone to get to safe ground and shelter before the storm hits.
“We are more-or-less ready to go, just, West End you know sometimes will be a challenge with persons in the area evacuating.
“[…] I will be in Eight Mile Rock until the storm surpasses and we’ll operate we have our push-to-talk radios we have our satellite phones, our police officers are prepared and so we can only lean on the grace of God.”
Residents are now bracing for the first storm projected to hit the island since Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Ferguson said, although people haven’t been moving about frantically, he’s observed many of them diligently making preparations.
“Today It looked like business as usual, and you do see the lines at the water place and you do see people going to the store but I don’t see a mad dash.
“I know, for me personally, having gone through Dorian the closer it gets to it you get a little jittery, thinking about it but what I’ve seen today, I’ve seen business as usual but some of the numbers at the stores at this rate are a little bit more.
“They are taking heed but they are going about it in kind of a mild manner you know.”
Hurricane season concludes at the end of November, and with storms coming at the end of the season being a rarity, North Abaco Chief Administrator, Lenard Dames Jr. said the community was let down by the news.
Abaco is also in the storm’s main path, Dames explained that they have also made significant progress in preparations, because of plans set at the beginning of the hurricane season.
“Throughout the season we would have been preparing and just when we thought we would have been out of the woods, here it is that we are faced again with the threat of and it also brings and wakes up some of the memories from Hurricane Dorian.
Dames added that hurricane shelter managers have been notified and are on standby waiting on the call from NEMA to be activated, ferry services have been suspended and they have sent out information to residents where the shelters are located.
“I will be in meetings with the disaster consultative committee, Green Turtle Cay, Grand Cay, and also the mainland first thing in the morning. So we are doing our best to hunker down and we pray that God will continue to be with us and guide us as we go through this storm.”
