The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@trubunemedia.net

RESIDENTS in southern New Providence yesterday compared the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew to living in a “war zone,” saying the storm’s winds were so intense it sounded like a train coming as it bore down on the island.

The residents, speaking with The Tribune just five days after the category four storm wreaked havoc on New Providence, said the destruction brought on by Matthew was “totally unexpected” and similar to images of international disasters most Bahamians typically doubt “will ever happen here.”

One resident, a 53-year-old who said he had never experienced such a powerful storm, described Matthew as “one of those things that I don’t think I need to live and see again.”

For South Beach residents near the coast, the damage was extensive, bringing floodwaters as high as four feet into some homes, destroying appliances and furniture. Trying to clean up the endless amounts of debris has thus proven to be a challenge, as restoration efforts “feels like you’re just working with very little progress,” one resident said.

South Beach resident Simeon Hall Jr, son of Bishop Simeon Hall, pastor emeritus of New Covenant Baptist Church, said the family’s more than 40-year-old home was unrecognisable when they returned from the place where they had sought shelter before the storm’s arrival. He said upon their return to the house on Halls’ Way, “three mattresses and a box spring” were found in the house’s driveway, along with “debris from everybody else.”

He also said the interior of the Halls’ residence sustained extensive damage due to flooding from the strong storm surges.

“The lower level got pretty much destroyed,” he said. “We were told that this area had about six feet (of water), so this area had maybe about five feet plus water outside, and then on the inside we have a water mark along our entire downstairs at four feet.

“We’re still without power, but even if we got power we aren’t allowed to turn the power on because we still have to have somebody assess, because all of the outlets and all of the electrical work has been compromised. So that is what we’re waiting on. So having or not having power to us doesn’t really matter at this point, because we still wouldn’t be able to access it.”

He added: “The neighbourhood as you can see has been grey ever since the storm left, so even when the sun is out it’s still kind of gloomy down here. It’s the best way to describe the aftermath, is pretty gloomy, pretty brown and dull. South Beach has always been kind of green, and you could always smell the salt water in this area. Very fresh and crisp. Now it’s totally different.”

A woman who lives just across the street from the Halls’ residence, said she too had evacuated the area before the storm’s arrival. However, she said when she returned, she could hardly recognise her own home.

“This was totally unexpected,” she said. “I have never experienced anything at all like this. Did not expect what I found. My first response was to just put my hands to my face and say, ‘Whoa, I don’t believe what I’m seeing here.’”

She said when her family dared to venture inside the house, most of the water had subsided, but a watermark over a foot high was visible on the walls. She also said there was about an inch of “dark sludge” lining the floors of her home.

“The furniture, we had to get rid of them,” she explained. “The fridge, of course with the water being that high it would have taken out all of the motors because you know the motors were down low, the same thing with the washer. We have an electric stove here--we don’t even know what’s going to happen with the stove because we haven’t had power from last week Wednesday.

“The whole place is a mess,” she added. “It looks like a doggone war-zone. You know like the pictures you see in devastated areas, you just never expect that it will ever happen here.”

Headed further north and onto Marshall Road, residents there told The Tribune that the wind got the better of them as opposed to the rain, destroying and/or damaging roofs and power lines.

“I think for us, everybody was talking about storm surges and everything,” Davida Knowles said. “Nobody talked about the wind capacity and what it would have done because that’s what we experienced. It wasn’t too much rain - it was the wind force that we got that caused all of that. Everybody was saying evacuate for storm surges, I haven’t seen it yet.”

“I thought my door was going to blow in,” another male resident said. “Because that was like a whistle, you could’ve heard that like a train come whistling down. And my door was shaking because my door shifted. I don’t know how it got like that but the wind kept beating on the door. And I tried to (fix) the door and all I heard was ‘bam’ and the door shifted. I believe even the foundation shifted. That’s the heaviest breeze and storm I’ve ever seen.

“If anybody heard a train wreck coming, that was that storm,” he added. “You can’t see the wind, but for sure damn know you could hear it.”

Pastor Andrew Brown, a resident of Tayoo End off Marshall Road, lamented not just the storm’s destruction, but also the response by Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) to restoring electricity.

He pointed to a downed power pole in that particular corner that is now literally leaning across the street--wires still attached--that residents are afraid may fall soon if not righted.

“I am totally disappointed with (Bahamas Power and Light) and their response to this,” said Pastor Brown. “The MP, anybody who is responsible. Because the problem is there’s a lot of females that live through here and they have to drive. Many of them won’t even drive their cars from their homes. They’re literally leaving their cars and walking out because they’re afraid to drive underneath this. Little by little, some of the children are coming out.

“But we don’t know whether this thing will fall, because it is here, and it is a very bad response to this, leaning across the street. It should not, five days after the storm, for this pole to still be leaning here? By no means. That’s unacceptable to any people that pays taxes in any country.”

Pastor Brown, a store owner, said for him personally, the aftermath of the storm has been “horrible,” as he has had to scrounge up $250 worth of fuel each day to keep his store running with a generator in the absence of electricity.

However, he said he is coping with the challenge.

“…Because it appears to be a once in a lifetime thing--it isn’t something that I expect to happen next month, so I am dealing with it,” he said. “But I am 53 and this is the first time I have experienced a storm like this. So it is kind of one of those things that I don’t think I need to live and see again, and I pray to God I don’t have to live and see it again.”