Roof blew off our Bahamas Resort Hotel: Tourist reporting from inside the eye of Hurricane Dorian

The Director Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Joy Jibrilu said:  “It’s devastating!”  The Bahamas’ Minister of Tourism, Dionisio D’Aguilar, told local media that many residents appeared to have underestimated the “catastrophic” damage Category 5 hurricane Dorian could bring.

After Hurricane Dorian made landfall at Elbow Cay in the Bahamas the island is bracing for the monster Category 5 hurricane storm. Authorities are doing a tremendous job to evacuate visitors if they didn’t follow the urging by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism to leave.  It may be until Monday afternoon or later before authorities can go out and assess the situation.

“Never in the history of the Bahamas have we seen 180 miles per hour winds, and 200 mile an hour gusts,” D’Aguilar said.“We are praying that they can find safe shelter, and they can make it through the storm.”

Director Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Joy Jibrilu: It’s devastating!A local tweeted from Northern Bahamas: “PLEASE PRAY FOR US. Lord Help Us. Please pray for my 4-month-old baby. Some people didn’t get to make it. The water took them.”

Reports from a hotel come in the roof was blown off, the restaurant is underwater, and balconies are blown off.

A tweet said: “Some of my closest friends that are like family are there. I’m in touch via WhatsApp finally. They have a 4-year-old. They regret not to have to evacuate due to the “prediction” of local news in spite of what Bahamas Ministry of Tourism urged. No one is GOD or Mother Nature.”

Director Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Joy Jibrilu: It’s devastating!

Dorian hits the Bahamas

It wasn’t clear if there had been injuries or fatalities, but D’Aguilar said it was the government’s top concern.  “We are very very frightened about the potential loss of life,” D’Aguilar said.

Bahamas minister of foreign affairs, Darren Henfield, told the state-owned broadcaster ZNS Bahamas that authorities rescued people from damaged buildings during a three-hour lull in the storm.

Most were taken to a government center that was operating as a shelter, he told the broadcaster.

“We’re doing our best,” Henfield said. “We’re calm.”

A tourist, who is also a journalist, reports from the horror she experienced when the roof of her hotel blew off along with balconies, the restaurant and a lot of the resort are flooded. The reporter reports when Marsh Harbor was inside the eye. She said: “I do not know how this place can go through another push like this when the eye disappears and the nightmare will start again.”

We hear people yelling for help: Watch this incredible report:

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Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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