FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – Grand Bahama and Bimini fared well as Hurricane Ian made landfall on Florida on Wednesday, with isolated power outages in Grand Bahama, some roof damage to the clinic in Bimini and minimal flooding reported, The Tribune reported on Friday, September 30, in an article written by Denise Maycock.
All tropical storm warnings and watches were lifted for the Bahamas early yesterday morning as Ian, now downgraded to a tropical storm, moved further north along the US east coast.
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director Captain Stephen Russell was pleased with the outcome for the Bahamas, particularly the northwestern islands.
“We are pleased with how we fared with this system, which is a powerful storm that impacted the western coast of Florida and the severe damage we see coming from those areas,” he said during a press briefing. “Thank God, we have not been impacted by that system as it came across the east coast.”
Capt Russell provided official updates from the emergency response teams on Grand Bahama and Bimini.
“The only thing that stands out in Bimini is that the clinic was compromised (Wednesday night) and persons were relocated to the administrator’s building,” he said.
Teams from the Defence Force, he said, are in Bimini assisting with securing the roof of the clinic to prevent any further damage to the health facility.
In terms of flooding, Capt Russell reported that central Bimini was affected due to drain problems identified earlier in the year.
“Reports of flooding in Alice Town and Porgy Bay areas of Bimini that is a standing problem. Early in the year when potential tropical cyclone one passed through, the minister (of works), myself, with a team from Ministry of Works, went to Bimini and looked at the drain issue there.
“And they are trying to design the system to rectify the flooding problem in central Bimini. It is something to do with water coming from the sea backing onto the land, and when you have hightide you have flooding in that area. So, they are devising a plan to rectify flooding issue.”
In Grand Bahama, Capt Russell reported that Island Administrator Joseph Ferguson reported power outages in the west Grand Bahama area. See complete article in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2022/sep/30/grand-bahama-bimini-fare-well-storm-conditions/
