Sorry about that, all!! At the risk of infringing copyright, here is
the text:
Bahamas swept underwater by Hurricane Floyd
Thursday, September 16, 1999
By Jacqueline Charles and Mimi Whitefield, The
Miami Herald
What Bahamians will remember about Hurricane
Floyd is the water — the massive storm surge that drove the sea miles
inland, stranding air traffic controllers at Freeport International
Airport, washing into homes and splitting an island in half.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and other
officials flew over both Eleuthera and the Abacos — among the hardest
hit of the islands — on Wednesday, and the government announced an aid
package for elderly and indigent hurricane victims. Both U.S. military
and Bahamian aircraft were sent to survey the far-flung islands and
airlift emergency supplies if needed.
No confirmed deaths had been reported by
Wednesday evening, but a young man was reportedly swept away while
crossing the roiling water of hurricane-engorged Hawksbill Creek on
Grand Bahama Island. By the time most people ventured
out Wednesday to survey the damage, the punishing wall of water that
surged 15 to 18 feet high as Floyd's 110-160-mph winds moved up the
eastern spine of the Bahamas had receded. But they found a world that
had been transformed by wind and water.
On Elbow Cay, home to the landmark
red-candy-cane-striped Hope Town lighthouse, pounding surf gouged
through the lowest point on the island. "Elbow Cay used to be one
island. It's two now. It's cut in half, and that's a pretty big
island," said Richard Meister, president of Treasure Cay Service in
Fort Lauderdale, which handles reservations to Treasure Cay — a
neighbor to Elbow Cay.
A Herald team that flew over Eleuthera to the
south found water still standing up to two feet deep in spots and
sections of the coastal highway flooded, but residents were out
repairing the roofs of their crayon-colored homes, shoveling out sand,
and clearing away tangles of debris and fallen trees. For the most
part, the wooden structures withstood the wind.
Rising water also took its toll on Green
Turtle Cay, which is just east of Great Abaco. There Bahamian radio
operator Earl Russell kept transmitting storm news — despite eight
inches of water in his radio room, 14 people sheltered in his home,
and a downed antenna. In one of his transmissions, Russell called the
hurricane the "worst he'd seen in his 71 years."
On Grand Bahama Island, home to resorts in
Freeport and Lucaya and most of the Bahamian industrial base, the
worst moments came Tuesday evening. The storm surge came from the
north, washing over the coast "at extreme high tide and went straight
across the island for 1-1/2 to two miles," said Alexander Williams,
administrator of Grand Bahama Island.
Runways, the terminal and airline offices were
inundated with six feet of water. At the height of the storm, air
traffic controllers and airport office personnel also had to be
rescued. But by 2 a.m. most of the water had receded, Williams said.
Workers hoped to have the airport open today.
American Airlines resumed service from Miami
and Fort Lauderdale to Nassau Wednesday afternoon, but American
flights to Freeport, Governor's Harbour, George Town, and Marsh
Harbour were canceled until at least Friday.Telephone service was
still spotty on Grand Bahama, and about 45 percent of the island's
population still had no power Wednesday afternoon.
Major hotels in Freeport and Lucaya reported
little more than damage to landscaping, and Old Bahama Bay, a resort,
marina and residential community under development in West End,
weathered the storm with minimal damage.
Nassau, the Bahamian capital, wasn't in
Floyd's direct path, but the hurricane's fierce winds still pulled the
roofs from homes, washed two barges ashore, felled large trees and
caused Balcony House, a historic wooden building in downtown Nassau,
to collapse.
No major structural damage was reported by
Nassau and Paradise Island hotels, although The Sheraton Grand on
Paradise Island did sustain heavy water damage. In fact, many major
hotels cranked out press releases reporting they were open for
business and ready for new guests on Friday.
At The Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, which
boasts the world's largest marine habitat, 1,700 guests weathered the
storm in the conference center ballroom where they watched movies and
were served hot food. The resort's 50,000 fish and sea animals came
through Floyd "undisturbed," said the hotel.
The Bahamian government, ever mindful of the
fickleness of tourists, was quick to point out that there are 700
islands in the Bahamas chain and only the easternmost islands took a
direct hit.
Nassau/Paradise Island and Grand Bahama, which
account for 90 percent of the Bahamian tourism industry, "are fully
operational and open for business," said a government press release.
The tone from the Abacos — a northern Bahamas
chain of more than 100 picturesque islands — and Eleuthera wasn't
quite so optimistic. No drinking water, no phones, no power
were the reports that filtered in from the Out Islands. The best news
was that there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries to the
12,000-plus people in the Abacos.
--
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