The Tribune

By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

THE NATIONAL Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) assessed the damage to homes yesterday after a freak storm tore the roof from at least one residence in southern New Providence during the early hours of Sunday.

No injuries were reported but yesterday afternoon NEMA and the Bahamas Red Cross were conducting an initial assessment of homes near Malcolm Road - the area hardest hit by high wind gusts.

Meanwhile personnel from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force assisted residents who had their roof torn off by what was being described as a tornado by people in the area.

Captain Stephen Russell, Director of NEMA, said plastic sheeting was being distributed to those whose roofs sustained damage.

While residents seemed convinced that it was a twister that wreaked havoc on their neighborhood at about 3am on Sunday, Basil Dean, Chief Meteorologist at the Meteorological Office, said the culprit was straight-line gusts associated with the thunderstorm.

"In the way the vegetation lies in a North/South layout, it was more consistent with strong straight-line gusts and not a twister," he said.

"Laypersons are associating it with a tornado, but it was more consistent with straight-line gusts that developed from these thunderstorm cells."

Mr Dean said the system developed in the Gulf of Mexico. It brought with it a number of thunderstorm cells that struck New Providence as residences slept.

He said the low pressure system could bring more strong winds to the Northern Bahamas this week.

The Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) was also busy yesterday reconnecting customers following Sunday's tempest.

The corporation released a statement yesterday afternoon saying it had restored power to much of the areas affected by the storm and reasoned that all of the affected areas would have restored power by the end of the day.

"Lightning, heavy downpour, and high winds were responsible for damage to some power lines on BEC's distribution network," the BEC release said.

"As a result, there were outages in several communities. Emergency crews were dispatched as soon as weather conditions improved and the corporation brought in additional teams early Sunday morning to expedite the restoration process."