The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Lumber distributors and building supply stores yesterday confirmed they had seen a pick-up in business due to a spike in plywood sales ahead of Hurricane Matthew.

Raymond Collins, manager at Tops Lumber Yard, told Tribune Business: “We have been pretty busy with plywood sales. It has been a steady flow of traffic. It started a bit on Saturday but today has been pretty busy.”

FYP president, Mark Roberts, told Tribune Business: “I think that some people are waiting for the last minute. I have spoken with one of my sales associates; they said that traffic was average, but obviously  we are selling a lot more plywood than usual.

“It’s an average number of customers, but just a different type of customer. We had a  hurricane 10-11 years ago and we had two truck loads of plywood that sold out in four hours. We haven’t gotten to that stage where everyone is going to go wild, but we have sold out of plywood before.”    

Matthew, is a powerful Category Four hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145mph, with higher gusts. The storm is expected to move north across the heart of the Bahamas from Wednesday into Thursday.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the centre, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 195 miles.

Matthew is expected to produce total rain accumulations of eight to 12 inches over the southeastern Bahamas, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches. Residents have been urged to take all the necessary precautions to prepare for the passage of the storm.