Post Hurricane Dorian Report

Thank you all for being patient for my report on Dorian. It has been a tough three days. From the news, I am sure you have seen some of the devastation that occurred when Abaco took a direct hit with 200+ mph winds. It is heartbreaking to see. Since I am the webmaster for the Sailing Club's website, I have been trying to get as much info as possible to post, so that everyone can keep up on what is happening. Dave has been helping me get info together from a multitude of sources. I have been working about 12 hours a day trying to decipher which news is confirmed or just presumed, and am still in awe at the damage. Until today we did not even know if our apartment in the boatyard was still there, since there are so many houses destroyed on every island. We saw an aerial photo of the apartment in the distance late this afternoon. It is there with large boats that dragged ashore surrounding it, but cannot tell if the there is roof damage or just debris on it. If you click on the photo, it should enlarge.

You can also see in that photo, all the boats piled up. It looks impossible to even walk around or get to the buildings. So many residents both full time and winter, have lost everything (including our managers' home and their kids/grandkids home...in the eye of the storm they had to move to the Hope Town Inn and Marina on the other side of the peninsula when their houses broke up).

Communication has been difficult because cell phone service was out for awhile, and satellite phones were spotty because of the cloud cover (not to mention everyone needed to save battery power). Even this morning they were experiencing the outer bands of the storm because it stalled over Grand Bahama Island (which must be flattened). This has also made it difficult for hurricane relief planes and boats to get to the islands and once they get there, the boats will need to be so careful due so much debris in the water. However, the US Coast Guard has found an unflooded area of Marsh Harbour to land a helicopter to transfer critically injured people. So far I believe there have only been 14 deaths reported, most likely all on Great Abaco where many Haitians live in less than ideal housing. Here is a photo of downtown Marsh Harbour  (screen shot taken from a video).

I would like to post lots of photos here for you, but there is so much more information and videos that I have placed on www.hopetownsailingclub.com  Please check it out. Word has gotten around on the internet that the website is where to go for news and I have been getting emails from relatives and friends of people who they haven't heard from and they are desperate for information, which I have not been able to help with. So sad. Now I am even getting emails from TV stations and CNN for permission to use photos from the website.

The good news is that the sailing club building survived and it is now command central for the Hope Town Volunteer Fire & Rescue, where they are even using the kitchen for cooking and feeding people. It is going to take a very long time for Hope Town and all of Abaco to rebuild, but they will. Who knows how long it will take to even get power. As for us, we haven't decided what to do this winter. Right now our lovely islands are in survival mode.