The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

DISPLACED by Hurricane Irma, several Family Island residents yesterday expressed apprehension about returning home after receiving reports of varying levels of devastation.

Inundated with text messages and photos about flood waters and structural damage to property on Monday, evacuees still being housed at the Kendal G L Isaacs Gymnasium and the New Providence Community Centre (NPCC) said they are unsure of what awaits them once they get back to their respective islands.

“They sent me all. Every last picture taken in Ragged Island and I am sure the damage is much, much worse in person,” said Demison Nesbitt, Ragged Island’s chief councillor, when he spoke to The Tribune outside of the NPCC.

“Seventy-five per cent of the homes devastated. The other 25 per cent – roof gone, walls damaged. So much gone,” he added sadly.

According to Mr Nesbitt, most of Ragged Island’s infrastructure was affected by Irma.

“Poles, the light poles, yes they snapped. Water, the entire reverse osmosis plant, finished. Homes, schools, businesses, roads - I’ve received bad news since Sunday and I am too afraid to get back there,” he said.

Mr Nesbitt was one of the nearly 50 residents who evacuated the island before Irma.

Exuma and Ragged Island MP, Chester Cooper, on Sunday said it was “mind blowing” to have seen photographs of the ruin on the island left by Irma, as he likened the situation to a horrific scene from television.

Another island said to be ravaged by Irma was Mayaguana.

Ned Brooks, 61, another evacuee calling the NPCC home in the wake of Irma, said the horror stories he’s heard from persons now in Mayaguana have left him “uneasy and concerned.”

“Boy, they say my house is in order, but my area is very damaged. My church, they say the roof (was) hit hard, problems (in) other places. But I can’t say for certain until I see things for myself.”

Mr Brooks, who evacuated to New Providence with his elderly mother before Irma, added: “I am worried because it’s difficult to go based on other people’s account. They could say ‘this good and that good,’ but no one knows my house like me. I know how I left each shingle and nail – I know how I left my home.

“In moments like this, and I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I’m truly impressed by what the government was able to do for us at this shelter. But in moments like this, your mind wonders because you can only imagine how bad it is when you don’t know.”

Mr Brooks went on to detail the thousands of dollars in belongings he could potentially lose in a “worst case scenario.”

“I’m worried about my furniture. I’m worried about my appliances. I’m worried about so much, straight down to the hundreds of dollars of meat in my freezer.”

His panic led him to ask The Tribune: “How long you think meat could last in the freezer if no one is there to open it up? Oh my God, do you think it is still good? God, I hope some of it is still good.”

That level of concern was also present at the gymnasium when The Tribune spoke with Theofolis Dudley Saunders Jr, a resident of Bimini who was evacuated with his sick father last Thursday.

However, his concern wasn’t about supplies and food, but rather those in his local community who often depended on him daily for help.

“Me and my daddy was fortunate to get out when we did. But I know so much people who didn’t and now I am hearing so much things about how bad it is up there,” he said.

Taking a break from a friendly game of basketball with a couple of young boys at the shelter on Monday, Mr Saunders Jr, 52, said his father, 75, has been constantly asking him about the status of their home and friends since Saturday.

However, Mr Saunders Jr said he has been “too afraid” to give the “full details.”

“He wants to know and I am hearing a lot, but I don’t want worry him like that because he is sick. But I’m worried because you’re hearing about tornadoes, flooding and all sorts of stuff and you’re like, ‘I wonder how Mrs So-and-So doing and how Mr So-and-So holding up,’” he said.

“This is the tough part, the worry. But there are people here with me and I am going to do what I can for them until I can get back home to Bimini to do what I can there.”

Also in the gymnasium Monday was Gloria Scavella, a resident of Inagua staying at the storm shelter with three generations of her family.

She called her current predicament a “blessing by God.”

Ms Scavella, holding hands with one of her great-grand daughters during her interview with The Tribune, said she had no need to dwell on the “negative” because God has given her a “chance to sleep comfortable and eat good in dry, safe place during a storm.”

“The government has taken care of us, and while I am somewhat scared of what home looks like, I am alive and my family is good. Life, we still have it and that is what truly matters,” she added.

Ahead of Irma’s arrival last week, some residents of MICAL, Ragged Island and Bimini were evacuated into New Providence.

A total of 1,223 persons arrived in New Providence on 15 flights Wednesday and three hurricane shelters were earmarked for these residents.

On Thursday, an additional 21 people from Mathew Town, Inagua and about 300 others from Bimini requested evacuation.

The government is expected to announce this week when evacuees would be able to return to their respective islands.

Provisions are in place to help evacuees through the weekend, according to officials.