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STORM DAMAGE, RELIEF AND REBUILDING REPORTS: Steve Rutledge
on October
10, 1999 at 17:45:54: Robert Meister and TC have contracted with a firm from Florida to get the power infrastructure back in business. They arrived Friday with a retired distribution manager from Florida Power & Light. Poles and transformers have also arrived along with trucks, etc. They report that getting the above-ground service running will be completed within three to four weeks. When I got there on Friday, there was no power in my villa and many of the other villas in the BVOA. Saturday morning the power was on! The only villas (BVOA) that don't have power are the ones along the main road and that should be fixed within a day or so.Today (Sunday), BEC was working to get power restored to the TC school and airport. The real problem with power restoration is Windward Beach/Brigantine. These areas have underground service. Some of it was destroyed/damaged and transformers were wrecked by the saltwater. I have no idea how long it will take to get these areas up and running. You can get lunch and dinner at the Tipsy, the focal point of most activity. Marina Store and Little Switzerland are closed. Grocery store, convenience store and Florence's open as usual. I can't report on the progress of telephone repairs. BATELCO personnel were in from Nassau installing a new system but this was planned before Floyd. Fiber optic cable is going in to modernize the system. They are also upgrading the cellular system with new antennas and transmitters. Again, planned before Floyd. BTW, I retrieved the amateur radio repeater from the BATELCO station for repair. It was damaged by saltwater. The antenna blew off the BATELCO tower. I was never able to find it. Insurance will cover some of the replacement cost but not all. Hope this helps everyone. I thought the power situation was the most important. I am sure others will have more to add. October 11, 1999 by Myrtis Russell During hurricane Floyd the Treasure Cay Elementary School received severe flooding, because of this all textbooks were destroyed. We are seeking donation of textbooks, any help that you can render us is greatly appreciated. Thanking you
in advance, (Quanity: 30 each) Mathematics Plus
READING SCIENCE GRAMMAR SPELLING PHONICS 18 September
,1999 - TREASURE
CAY HURRICANE FLOYD DAMAGE UPDATE I went to Treasure Cay on Thursday, September 16th, so here are some facts and news of what we know so far. First of all, THANKS for all the tremendous support. If you want to help, please Click HERE for material or financial donation information. PLEASE DO NOT go to Treasure Cay unless you have some kind of permission or permit from The Bahamas Government or other emergency reason. You need permission, even if you just want to drop off relief supplies, and you need to make sure that your permission request is addressed to The Bahamas Government Hurricane Relief Attn: Administrator Joseph Ferguson (FAX) 242-327-5807 to Ms. Theresa Butler - Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister. Who you are, where are you going, why are you bringing materials (for the relief effort), list of items on your plane or boat, tail number of plane or boat registration ... you need an official fax authorization before you leave or you won't be allowed in and/or will be charged duty on your relief supplies. If you need to come in, you must bring your documents. Please check for updates, because policies will change at some point. PLEASE DO NOT GO UNLESS YOU HAVE OFFICIAL APPROVAL AND RELIEF SUPPLIES OR OWN PROPERTY OR HAVE RECEIVED APPROVAL TO HELP. Notice to homeowners: We know that you want to know about your property, however it is impossible for us to give a report on each property. We will try to get more information out on certain areas of the resort as the reports come in. Please also check the Abaco and Bahamas message boards for information. Thank you for your patience. HERE IS MY BRIEF REPORT: The roads are open to Treasure Cay with some flooding (receding now), debris and power lines down including within Treasure Cay. The good news is, Richard Collins (our engineer) has performed a minor miracle and restored approximately 1/3 of power capacity, which covers the central area including administration/reception center, supermarket, medical clinic, the long building and other areas. The bad news is that all of our other generators in the power plant were flooded 3 feet deep with saltwater and are inoperable, maybe not even salvageable. We have already rented an additional generator for Treasure Cay, but it will take time to get there. We hope to ship it by Sept. 25 on Craig Robertsís barge. Batelco's main phone exchange at Treasure Cay was flooded with saltwater. GOOD NEWS. Believe it or not, the marina has surprisingly little damage to the docks with only one small dock down and a few planks bent or missing. Most boats look almost untouched, but some have minor damage to railings, outriggers, etc.
If your boat is NOT on this list, consider yourself lucky. You might have a broken antenna or outriggers or nothing at all. If you need to contact us, please call (954) 525-7711. The hotel (Harbour Houses) building is intact; especially the newer roofs did very well with almost no damage. Parts of the older roofs came off and shingles are gone. The worst is the flooding damage. We estimate that storm surge was around 8 to 10 feet and saltwater got in the lower level of rooms. Several windows have blown out and A/C's are bad because of saltwater damage. Part of the seawall in front of the hotel collapsed. More good news. The Tipsy Seagull has very mild damage (we all need a drink after this one). The Spinnaker Restaurant has about 8 windows blown out; therefore the inside is a mess. Carpet is history and kitchen got flooded as well. There is some roof damage on the backside. The administration center is fine (which is of great help to us). The real estate office collapsed. The warehouse has a big hole in the roof and water ruined furniture, carpets and other supplies we had stored in there. The gas station received damage, but is open. Windward Beach was still blocked, because of downed trees. I was told, almost every home has serious flood damage and this area is among the worst off. Storm surge at the resort was around 8 to 10 feet we estimate. Homeowner Kiki Graetz almost drowned. She held on to a pole or piling in her house while water was gushing through. I am sure there are more stories like this of which we will hear. Another stroke of luck: The eye of the storm passed over between approx. 5:30 and 7:30pm. Low tide was at 6:18pm. Otherwise, water would have been about another 3 feet higher!!! The 5:00pm storm coordinates (September 14) were virtually identical with the Treasure Cay coordinates! Witnesses say, you could feel the pressure in your ears (just like in an airplane). Mr. Pinder and other people heard the hurricane hunter plane over Treasure Cay during the eye (courtesy of Jerry Jarrell, National Hurricane Center). Turns out Bill Hertz was never in any trouble. He invited 17 Haitians and threw a Hurricane Party -- and I was worried? The Tillberg house roof collapsed and the house is a total mess, but Mr. & Mrs. Tillberg survived. They drove to the shelter during the eye of the storm! The water ruined their medication. Phil English's house has a boat in his living room, and the front side of the house is bad. There are many homes damaged, unfortunately, we cannot give you a report on every home. If someone has a key to your house, let us know, and we will relay the message. Many supplies will go bad and could be used for relief. John Williams has his car buried almost completely in the sand. And on and on, the damage to homes is extensive and sure will be in the tens of millions of dollars (a guess). Structurally, the majority of buildings did reasonably well, but once you have a leak (and there are plenty), even a small one, everything gets wet inside. And imagine what water does to your belongings and electrical outlets, especially saltwater. Many homes and condos have lost shingles or more. Trailers flipped over, one was sitting on top of a pickup truck. The canal behind Atlantis is a complete mess. The docks are warped, boats sitting on top of warped docks, docks sitting on top of boats, boats sitting of top of lawns and a boat squeezed between a wall and an Atlantis condo like it was parked there intentionally. Several boats sunk right there on the canal. One boat, a 32 footer, was washed out the canal, into the marina and across the bay a mile away and is sitting on mainland Great Abaco like it was moved in a trailer. The old barge outside the marina entrance now sits in front of the Kiebler Rock Point house, which looked bad from the air. We anticipate reopening the hotel and villas by December, if not earlier. The Marina should be open earlier. Our biggest problem is the electrical damage and tests will have to be done. Also, floodwater and rainwater coming through broken windows caused serious damage to furniture and household items inside the hotel. We already had two minor fires when power was restored to certain areas. Please be careful, when the power comes back. In certain areas, bark was sheared off trees and every tree is down. The vegetation is virtually gone and it does look like a bomb went off. However, nature will come back quickly (3-6 months). I saw a confused hummingbird looking for flowers, but there are none. I saw one dead kitten and someone in Green Turtle Cay saw a bird without feathers. Overall, the damage is not as catastrophic as in Andrew in South Miami, but it still is a disaster. There was even more structural damage to buildings in Homestead and Naranja Lakes in 1992. Immediately after the storm, we (Treasure Cay Services, Inc.) started a relief fund with 4 South Florida location drop-offs. We already sent two planeloads full of relief supplies including a packed cargo-converted Gulfstream Intl. Airlines Beechcraft 1900. Thanks to Wendy Clements. Jim Nawn of Green Turtle Cay Club has been active for Green Turtle Cay. As of last night, he said they needed manpower, because everyone is working on their roofs. Several of our employees have structural damage and flooding in their homes. It is almost a miracle, that no one died or suffered major injury. In Fox Town, several people in a shelter left the church during the eye and ran to another shelter because the roof was in bad shape. When they came back after the storm, the church roof was gone. The Prime Minister yesterday said on the radio, that virtually everyone is homeless in Fox Town. Coopers Town looked bad from the air with several homes completely destroyed. Sorry, that I couldn't get this out quicker, but we were inundated with calls and logistical problems. If you want to offer help, you can e-mail us at info@treasurecay.com and list your phone number please. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP. We'll keep you updated, Robert Meister
President Treasure Cay Services, Inc. When we saw the eye of the storm sitting over Abaco we knew that supplies would be needed immediately. We got the word out the next morning thanks to Paul Castronovo of ZETA 94.9 FM and starting getting supplies. He and the people at ZETA have been tremendous in getting us supplies and keeping the public informed of the great need. We are extremely grateful to them for their support and thank them from those who cannot. We are working with South Florida companies and getting the word out to the media to get relief supplies to those who need it most. See the relief drop off sites elsewhere on this site. |
