Google Maps
Via The Nassau Guardian: ‘Complete devastation’.
Marsh Harbour is an image of “complete devastation”, said one resident who had to flee her home as it was being ripped apart by the strongest hurricane ever to hit the island nation.
Hurricane Dorian left catastrophic damage in its wake as it crept across Abaco.
Cindy Russell, a resident of Marsh Harbour, said she had no words to describe the ruin that Dorian inflicted on the community that she no longer recognizes.
“It’s like we just need to be rescued and put on another island to start over again,” she said. “Complete devastation.”
Russell and her family are currently residing in a government clinic, where she said hundreds of others have also sought shelter.
“People are still coming,” she said yesterday. “A lot of people from Murphy Town just got out of that settlement and came to the clinic.” Russell said she made the dangerous trek to the clinic after her windows and floor started vibrating.
She said the only thing she can still do in her house is cook. “We just came from by our house, you know, you can’t live there. We go and we cook and get clothes, and [come back].”
Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis announced yesterday evening that there were five confirmed deaths on Abaco as a result of the storm.
Fear and anxiety enveloped the nation as Dorian continued its trek over Grand Bahama yesterday. Across social media, people posted photos of their friends and relatives in the Abacos who had not been heard from since before the storm.
In a Facebook group named “Abaco People Search — Hurricane Dorian”, hundreds of names were posted, but many remained unaccounted for.
When residents began to venture out to view the aftermath, many found utter ruin. On Elbow Cay, a before and after photo of the Hope Town Harbour Lodge revealed unthinkable destruction.
Typically picturesque old Bahamian-styled homes, suffered extensive damage to the roofs and structures. Electrical wires and fallen utility poles lined, and in some areas obstructed, the streets.
In the harbor, docks were destroyed and boats overturned. In a video that circulated on social media, buildings on mainland Abaco were flattened.
Personal belongings and furniture lay in heaps, mixed in with other debris. Fallen trees and power lines were scattered across the area, and boats lay in the streets, washed ashore in the storm surge.
One man said, “This was Bayview. Bayview gone.”
