Guyanese anxious about family on hurricane-hit Bahamas

Cecil and Olive Simon
Cecil and Olive Simon

As The Bahamas struggles to restore communications following the rampage of hurricane Dorian several families including Guyanese are desperate for information about their loved ones who were on the islands ravaged by the storm.

The children of Cecil and Olive Simon, Buxtonians teaching in Bahamas’ Great Abaco Island are anxiously waiting for any communication on the wellbeing of their parents.

“We last spoke with them on Sunday morning just before the storm came,” their daughter Oliceia Tinnie told Stabroek News.

She explained that having made it through several hurricanes her parents assured her that they had done all they could and would just wait out the storm at home or go to a hurricane shelter on the island if that became necessary.

The island chain has seen major devastation.

The authorities are working to restore communication but with the extensive damage were not certain how long that would take

According to a report from CNN the Category 5 hurricane hit Great Abaco Island with sustained winds of 180 mph on Sunday.

Yesterday the storm inched away from the northern Bahamas after lingering over the islands for days, leaving catastrophic damage and people stranded in flooded buildings.

It has knocked homes to the ground and flooded streets in the northern Bahamas. The strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in The Bahamas, Dorian moved only 30 miles in 30 hours from Monday into Tuesday, mercilessly raking the same areas with destructive storm surge and winds.

Tinnie noted that the major issue is that all communication services on the island are nonfunctional.

“They are working to restore communication but with the extensive damage we’re not certain how long that would take…for now we can’t say where they are,” she explained.