Cruise editor Tom Stieghorst
is in the Bahamas covering Royal Caribbean's mission to deliver food to
Bahamians after Hurricane Dorian hit.
FREEPORT, Bahamas -- Of all the problems facing Bahamians
impacted by Hurricane Dorian, a lack of housing is the most critical, said one
veteran disaster aid manager.
"Housing is the biggest need at the moment," said Caline Newton, a
liaison for HeadKnowles, a relief organization started after Hurricane
Joaquin in 2015 by two Bahamians living in the U.S. "At the end of the day,
you need someplace to lay your head because so many people have lost their
homes."
A warehouse near the port at Freeport lost part of its roof in Hurricane Dorian. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst
The United Nations said the hurricane has left 70,000 people homeless in the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island.
Speaking on the pier at the harbor here as Royal Caribbean
International delivered its first shipment of food to Grand Bahama on Sept. 5,
Head said that rescue efforts are also a top priority. "There are a lot of
people who are still unaccounted for," she said.
In a tweet over the weekend, President Trump suggested that
any cruise lines willing to use their ships for stationary housing "sure
would be appreciated."
Currently, cruise lines have been using their ships to
deliver relief supplies and transport evacuates. No cruise company has yet
offered a ship as housing.
But MSC Group, parent of MSC Cruises, said its relief
efforts "will focus on semi-permanent prefabricated modular housing for
the population of the areas most affected by the hurricane."
Storm surge from Dorian caused unprecedented home damage on
Grand Bahama's north shore. Tim Aylen, a freelance photographer, said his house
was five miles inland, well out of the coastal evacuation zone. "The storm
just sat in the north and water came in six or seven miles," Aylen said. "It
was like a dam broke."
On the southern side of Grand Bahama, where the port sits,
flooding was less severe but winds still knocked down fences and blew tiles and
roofs off of buildings.
Hurricane Dorian's winds stripped paint off the walls at the Grand Lucayan resort on Grand Bahama. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst
Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas arrived in Freeport
Sept. 5 carrying water and food, and at the end of its relief mission evacuated
22 storm refugees to Nassau.
Charlene Smith, who works at an accounting firm in Freeport,
was evacuated because of a medical condition that needs treatment in Miami. She
said she was staying with a friend when the storm hit and water began rising in
the house. They evacuated to Smith's house but the same thing happened. "There
was just water everywhere," she said.
HeadKnowles is the ground partner in Freeport for the Pan
American Development Foundation, which has been a charity partner with Royal
Caribbean since 2007 and was active in raising relief funds after Hurricane
Matthew struck Haiti and the Bahamas in 2016.
___
This report was altered to correctly identify the quoted person from HeadKnowles.