By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Exuma’s economy could be “set back a year or two” if Hurricane Matthew scores a direct hit on the island, its Chamber of Commerce president said yesterday.
Pedro Rolle told Tribune Business that the Category Four storm’s emergence, and projected path, were “devastating” timing for Exuma, given that it coincided with the start of the island’s winter second home/tourism season.
“Generally speaking, I think it really can be devastating,” he said of Matthew’s potential impact. “This is about the time of year when a lot of people make a lot of money in Exuma from second homes.
“We have a lot of people that come and visit now. Whether it hits or not, the effects of the hurricane are potentially significant in terms of what it can do to our economy for second homeowners and visitors coming in, not to mention the disruption caused for residents already there.
“I am a little bit worried about it, to be honest with you.”
Mr Rolle added that local events, such as the Mount Thompson homecoming scheduled for this holiday weekend, have also been disrupted by postponements and cancellations as a result of Matthew.
“It was planned to be a significant event, as all the renovations for the community centre have been completed, and there was a huge amount of people coming from Nassau; big families,” the Chamber of Commerce president added. “It was going to be a very big event this weekend.”
Mr Rolle praised island administrator, Neil Campbell, for sending out alerts to Exuma residents on Matthew’s progress, and organising all relevant agencies and stakeholders to prepare for the storm.
“We cannot say this time that preparations were not made. He’s done a heck of a job in making sure people are aware,” he added of Mr Campbell.
Still, Mr Rolle agreed that Matthew, which up to press time last night was still producing 140 mile per hour winds, represented a major threat to Exuma’s population and economy.
“We’re right in the path of it,” he told Tribune Business. “If it goes through Exuma and has the effect of doing to Exuma what it did to Long Island, I don’t want to throw numbers around, but it can set us back a year or two in terms of projects just getting off the ground or being planned.
“This can be really significant in terms of pushing us back if we’re hit as projected.”
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID