Article posted with permission of the Sun-Sentinel Company and South Florida Interactive, Inc., per Bob Rountree, News Editor, Sun-Sentinel.com

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Bahamas counts Floyd's cost: villages swept away, homes smashed

By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press
MARSH HARBOUR, Bahamas -- Stunned residents of Abaco Island salvaged rain-soaked possessions from flattened homes Thursday as the relief effort for Hurricane Floyd's victims slowly gathered steam.

Survivors of Floyd's 145-mph winds gawked at sailboats flopped onto eroded beaches and seas of sand where tiny coastal villages once were. Hundreds of wooden homes were exposed to the elements, their roofs ripped off like paper during the storm's rampage Tuesday.

Like other Bahamian islands, residents of Abaco and the tiny keys on its periphery, population 11,000, faced the prospect of going weeks without telephone, electricity or reliable water service.

The 700-island archipelago reported one presumed death: that of a Freeport man swept out to sea from Grand Bahama Island. Authorities said they had no word of anyone who was critically hurt.
Bahamians had heeded storm warnings and stayed out of harm's way inside churches and government buildings-turned-shelters.

"The trees were skinned like bananas," said Michelle Rolle, a resident of Abaco's Sandy Point. "This hurricane was by far the worst we've seen, but at least everyone is safe."
Some Abaco residents reported seeing tornadoes.

Hundreds of homes were flattened, roofless or otherwise damaged in Abaco, Eleuthera and Cat islands. In Grand Bahama, Freeport's international airport was closed because of flooding.

In Cat Island, two medical centers lost their roofs, and 2 1/2 miles of the coastal road were washed away, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Lee Martinez.

Officials with the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance helped Bahamian authorities assess damage and relief needs, Martinez said.
"There is a great need for fresh water and food," she said.

From Florida and Great Inagua Island, the U.S. Coast Guard dispatched patrol boats, a C-130 aircraft and helicopters to survey the northern and eastern islands hardest hit by Floyd and deliver medical supplies and communications gear, including a mobile communications trailer to Nassau.

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On northern Eleuthera island, where winds reached 110 mph Tuesday, many homes were left without roofs and half the cemetery was washed away.

On Abaco, entire neighborhoods were flooded by storm surges whipped up by winds gusting to 190 mph, said Chris Lloyd, of the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association. In some places, homes looked as though they been randomly shoved together.

Club Med arranged flights out of the Bahamas for 380 guests who rode out the storm at its San Salvador resort and another 350 in Paradise Island near Nassau. Both resorts were temporarily closed for repairs, said spokeswoman Carol Boubard.

San Salvador's Riding Rock Inn, one of the four biggest employers on the island, sustained substantial damage, government ZNS radio reported.

Most hotels reported only minor damage, including the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, where 2,000 tourists weathered the storm.

"I just want to get off this island," said Elaine Bryant of Elizabeth, New Jersey. "This is the worst vacation I have had. But I can't blame anyone."

Everywhere, neighbors joined to clear streets, clean homes and stock up on emergency supplies. In Nassau, market vendors set up their stalls; lines formed again at fast-food drive-thrus.

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Article posted with permission of the Sun-Sentinel Company and South Florida Interactive, Inc., per Bob Rountree, News Editor, Sun-Sentinel.com Copyright 1999, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive, Inc.