Bahamas Red Cross starts relief efforts after Noel

The Bahamas Red Cross (BRC) is working along with the government and other agencies to provide ongoing relief to those affected by flooding caused by tropical storm Noel.

Marina Glinton, Director General of the Bahamas Red Cross said the storm dropped 10 inches of rain on several islands on October 30 causing massive flooding.

“On Long Island, the water was five feet deep in the homes of the residents with 10,000 persons affected. On Exuma, 3,000 persons have been affected and on Cat Island another 3,000 persons are affected.”
 
Areas on another island, New Providence, were also seriously affected and ten shelters were opened. BRC volunteers, all trained members of the Disaster Preparedness Committee, assisted in the shelters.

She said the airport in New Providence was closed but re-opened a few days later.

Glinton said food items were dispatched from the BRC warehouse to Long Island residents on a boat. Cases of corned beef, tuna fish, spaghetti and meat balls, soup, quaker oats cereal, sugar, rice, flour, cream, washing powder and hygiene kits were sent.

Diane Turnquest, disaster management officer, said while flood waters are beginning to recede, people remain desperate in many areas.

She explained that some trucks cannot pass through the waters because of the high saline content. “Many people are using boats to move between communities – or they have to walk. Many communities remain cut off from each other and without electricity.”

Freight boats, locally called ‘mail boats’, are being used by the government to bring in relief supplies but because of damaged docks they cannot go to all the affected islands.

Turnquest noted that a possible problem lay on the horizon. The receding but stagnant water is breeding mosquitoes. Of further concern is some areas are contaminated from cesspits.

A Red Cross assessment team, including Regional Intervention Team (RIT) member Hemant Balgobin, left the capital, Nassau, November 7 to visit Cat Island (pop. 3,000).

Cat Island, the sixth largest island in the Bahama chain and the highest, had its southern areas flooded.

The communities of Devil's Point, McQueen, Port Howe, New Bight, Old Bight and the Cove have been affected.

A two mile stretch of road linking Port Howe and Old Bight remains under water, stranding vehicles. Residents are moving from one side to the other by dinghy.

More than six acres of farm land has been flooded, seriously affecting small farmers. The small fishing industry has also been affected.

The Pan-American Disaster Relief Unit (PADRU), based in Panama, is supporting the BRC through the deployment of a Disaster Management Delegate and a RIT member deployed from PADRU.

The BRC will also benefit by inclusion into the Noel Appeal, part of which is the distribution of hygiene kits and food parcels to 425 families.

A second assessment team is to arrive by boat on the island of Exuma by November 13.

“The people are resilient. Those who have are sharing with those who do no have. There is a level of sharing in the community,” said Turnquest.