NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Captain Stephen Russell says the National Emergency Management Agency could have opened more than five times the shelters it used over the weekend in Grand Bahama as he defended the hurricane readiness of the island.
Ricardo Ferguson, the West End Grand Bahama administrator, told Eyewitness News on Saturday that the potential tropical cyclone which caused major flooding on Grand Bahama exposed weaknesses in the island’s readiness for a significant storm.
“Eight Mile Rock or the western district only having two shelters available today was not kosher,” he said. “We need to look and get the shelters ready to be activated.”
During a press conference on Sunday, NEMA Director Captain Russell suggested officials opened only enough shelters as was necessary.
“Coming out of hurricane Dorian in 2019, we got ourselves busy to try to see how best we could assist in bringing the shelters that were impacted on stream,” he said. “One of our donors, the United States northern command, they pledged $15k for every shelter that needed some assistance. Northern command gave $15k and the Bahamas government gave $20k.
“Based on what they requested, we repaired those shelters and they were all inspected when that happened. So we had 11 shelters that were prepared in Grand Bahama and we had two shelters in Abaco that were repaired based on their requests and what came forward. So technically we had eleven shelters that were prepared and operational to go in Grand Bahama. Separate and apart from that, one of the gymnasiums had repairs done and was able to be used if necessary. So some 14 or 15 shelters were ready to go if necessary in Grand Bahama.
The weekend system has strengthened and is now called Tropical Storm Alex. The system, according to Acting Director of Meteorology Jeffrey Simmons, was headed for Bermuda.
Bimini, Berry Islands, Grand Bahama, and Abaco experienced most of the rainfall from the potential cyclone.
During a 48-hour period over the weekend, officials measured 10.69 inches of rain in Grand Bahama––“an exorbitant amount of rain just to come out of one system,” Simmons said.
Myles Laroda, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for NEMA, said he and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis planned to travel to Grand Bahama to assess damage from the storm after the system passed.
Loading ...
