The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

THE National Emergency Management Agency gave a status report on the northern Bahamas after Tropical Cyclone Alex made landfall there this past weekend.

At a press conference on Sunday at NEMA headquarters on Gladstone Road, several high ranking members of the organisation with the Minister of State Miles Lorettab said the storm made landfall in several islands in the northern Bahamas including Abaco Grand Bahama and the Berry Islands.

The Minister of State said he had spoken with administrators in Grand Bahama over the damage caused by the storm Alex over 48 hours.

“Yesterday I would have spoken to all of the Members of Parliament out of Grand Bahama to get their assessment and their concerns as it relates to the depression. I also spoke with a few other local counsellors in the area, pledged government assistance and complete cooperation in the aftermath,” Loretta said.

“And, as I confirmed with the Prime Minister, as soon as it is possible to go and view the damage on the ground we will prepared to do so. So, this conference is just to give the country an update as to what the situation is.”

Jeffrey Simmons, acting director of the Department of Meteorology, said Grand Bahama experienced an “exorbitant” amount of rainfall, with 10.69 inches falling within a 48 period.

In regards to the remaining Family Islands affected by the storm, Tourissa Bootle, acting deputy director of NEMA said her agency had been in contact with officials in the affected areas.

“From the warnings issued Family Island administrators were managing the system and they were engaged very early with their consultative committee. So far we’ve seen some of the their initial assessments in the form of photographs and we believe that family island administrators will continue to do that which we are mandated to do, which is to go on the ground with their consultative committee and conduct a thorough assessment of what is happening,” she said.

“We have seen some of the impact in particular the Grand Bahama area and also north Abaco. We saw pictures coming in this morning with the administrator there in North Abaco. And so we are waiting to see some of the impact, severe in some areas, we believe, based on the photographs. So I want to encourage those Family administrators to be safe.”

Bootle concluded by saying that flooding was not as severe as the photos indicate and that she wishes the people in the affected areas well in restarting their normal lives.

Captain Steven Russell, director of NEMA, commended the recovery effort in the effected islands and clarified that a list of storm shelters had been given out two weeks prior to the storm.

Responding to a press question on if there are plans to create more hurricane shelters throughout the nation for what is forecasted to be a very busy hurricane season Captain Russell said: “I’ll speak to the plans that are underway to construct a purpose built shelter or community centre in Abaco. And the managing director here and I, we met with a team from the UN and other partners just last week in Abaco to finalize a plan of action to get that structure off the ground.

“That’s in the immediate to long term, to have that completed but we’re looking at that particular shelter as a prototype for shelters we’d like to build at strategic locations throughout The Bahamas in the not too distant future.

“There are some talks with Links group for one and the Red Cross, they proposed or they put forward a proposal to construct a shelter in Grand Bahama. The same plan that we are using for the Abaco shelter I’ve shared that with them so they can look at it to see how they can modify it or if it suits their purpose.”