The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE sound heading his way was so forceful that Albert Rolle thought a plane was about to crash near his Grand Bahama home.

When he went to check, he was blown back inside, not by a plane but by the force of a tornado that roared though his house.

He has been left with many of his material possessions damaged or destroyed and with no food or means of transportation, he told Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and the media yesterday.

The members of the government delegation there to assess Hurricane Irma's damage struggled to find their footing in his house with items strewn all around.

The tornado––a minor one, according to Chief Meteorological Officer Arnold King––inflicted significant damage to a handful of the homes in the Imperial Park area of the island when it struck there Sunday.

Mr Rolle was with his 87-year-old mother at the time. The pair emerged uninjured, although Ms Rolle is said to have some lingering arm pain after using her arms to hold up the ceiling falling on her in their bathroom.

When Mr Rolle tried to get to his feet, he was knocked out by falling debris, he said, awaking later to see his roof gone.

"I heard like a 747 jumbo jet coming over for a crash landing," the retiree said. "I said, ‘what crash landing (when) the airport over there?’ It was dark and gloomy. I opened (the door) and looked around and I didn't see anything (the first time). When I cracked that door (a second time), it bust me back. I tried to get back up (but) something fell, hit me in my head and I blackout."

Pointing Dr Minnis toward barely traversable areas of his house yesterday, Mr Rolle said: "Before you go, look through that area. Please look so you could see what I been through. Turn left. I want y'all see every corner of it. Don't leave no stone unturned."

Mr Rolle has been staying at the Royal Islander Hotel since the tornado made his house unlivable. His time there ends on Saturday, however.

Grand Bahama Minister of State Kwasi Thompson said the Ministry of Social Services will put him and his mother in an apartment for several months.

Near Mr Rolle's house, Ernestine McPhee spoke of a structure that suffered less severe damage, though she was critical of the way government institutions responded to their plight in the wake of the tornado.

"What is the purpose for NEMA?" she asked Dr Minnis. "Are they there to assist, to help you? Because when they came Sunday it was just paper work and not one person offered to lift anything. I'm here a single mother with a double amputee son, I was not impressed with NEMA and I think they need some training in how to help people in these types of emergencies.

"I never gave so much information - (to) the police, NEMA, Social Services, so many different people. I was getting irritated. I think in emergencies we don't need that,” Ms McPhee complained.

"(Ministry of) Health was not there the way I thought it should've been," she said. "It's almost a week now and nobody still came to even assist and bring a trailer so we could put the battered things on it. I'm trying to secure it."

Ms McPhee said she has homeowner’s insurance, however, and was hopeful she could get enough of a payout to repair her damaged roof. She submitted claims last year in the wake of Hurricane Matthew as well.

"Would it be possible for NEMA or somebody to give me a generator please?" she asked Dr Minnis.

"We'll check because you know there's a demand for the whole country," he told her.

She said her son uses insulin and it must be kept cool.

Dr Minnis’ delegation also travelled to Bimini yesterday, an island that was also hit with a tornado on Sunday as Hurricane Irma churned towards Florida.