Breaking - 2,500 people are missing and presumed dead in the Bahamas

[malaise]

The reported suggested that many were swept out to sea

[superpatriotman]

1. Dorian was a monster for the islands

A two-day monster. There but for the grace of God...

Fort Lauderdale proper is stepping up in rescue and recovery efforts. That brings me some joy.

[guillaumeb]

2. Recommended.

More victims of climate change that the racist GOP can ignore.

[malaise]

7. Read this and weep -they don't care

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/world/americas/bahamas-dead-dorian.html

[Guilded Lilly]

3. Just gut wrenching. Horrifying.

[spanone]

4. K&R...

Horrific.

[Bettie]

5. OMG

Tragic and heartbreaking.

[Iliyah]

6. }::::

[onenote]

8. Do you have a link or a named source?

I'm not seeing this news breaking anywhere.

[malaise]

9. Breaking from the Bahamian government

As soon as I find a link I'll post it

[onenote]

10. Thanks

[calimary]

22. Yes. Just gut-wrenching.

My husband, who’s a science/weather nerd, thinks that’s probably a low-ball figure.

[Skidmore]

56. This article refers to 2500.

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/sep/11/hurricane-dorian-updates-latest-abaco-and-grand-ba/?news

The Department of Social Services is the agency managing the government register of missing people. You can register a missing person by calling the missing person hotline (numbers on NEMA’s Facebook page) – you can also visit the Department of Rehabilitative Services and Welfare Services on University Boulevard. At this point there are approximately 2,500 individuals registered on the Bahamian government register.

#This list has not yet been checked against government records of who is staying in shelters or who has been evacuated. The database processing is underway. Some individuals who evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama have not yet registered with social services and are encouraged to do so at the Department of Rehabilitative Services and Welfare Services

[SleeplessinSoCal]

38. bbc, wapo

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49666942

[onenote]

62. Thanks. The good news is that they expect this number to get smaller not larger

Still a horrific tragedy.

[IndyOp]

11. The day after the hurricane Rachel interviewed someone from the government and he said

that the death toll would be huge. They said that volunteer morticians were flying into the country. They haven't given an estimate before this - I assume - because they were still rescuing people who were still alive. Survivors talked about having to push bodies away while they were wading through the water trying to get to help and struggling to go door-to-door to ask people how many were missing.

[malaise]

12. Sands - the Health Minister

Everyone knew this was horrific

[IndyOp]

63. Thank you, malaise - always happy to see your posts. (nt)

[Blue_playwright]

13. At one point I heard it co go as high as 70,000

This is horrific but I’m grateful the other number is wrong. At least. 😢

[malaise]

18. The number I heard from someone who should know

is closer to 10,000

[StClone]

35. Don't know or care to estimate, but some survivors report

Seeing bodies in many locations and pushing them out of the way as they waded out of their neighborhoods.

[malaise]

37. That NYT link that I posted

has people returning and showing bodies all over some areas that are yet to be removed.

[LiberalFighter]

14. With the destruction they had the numbers had to be higher than initially reported.

[backscatter712]

15. If we had a real President, he'd be sending a hospital ship and an amphibious assault group...

...with lots of members of our armed services on rescue duty.

Instead, our alleged president cut his visit to Scotland short... to go golfing.

[Kid Berwyn]

16. Absolutely.

Fore!

[lastlib]

26. Where are your priorities, man??!?

Golf, or saving brown people??

( , of course--unless you're the Commander-in-Thief.)

[AtheistCrusader]

31. There's SOME activity, the USS Bataan is helping.

https://www.pilotonline.com/military/vp-nw-bahamas-hurricane-dorian-navy-helicopter-bataan-response-20190909-ukvgkaig2vambdcvbp3j3auygi-story.html

But it seems half-assed compared to the response in Puerto Rico which was also insufficient.
And the USNS Comfort is busy elsewhere.

[Lurker Deluxe]

57. Well...

I am no way defending our dumb ass president.

However:

The Comfort is deployed in Columbia doing humanitarian aid. It would be generally useless there anyways, the US mainland is not a far trip in a helo. Would make very little sense to have a ship like that somewhere where logistics suck, why helo from Florida to the Comfort then helo from the Comfort to the Bahamas when you can just helo from Florida to the Bahamas?

US Coast Guard was on the scene immediately after the storm and most locals are bitching that the Bahama government is doing very little and most aid they are seeing is foreign, mostly American.

If we sailed military vessels over there people would be bitching that we are "invading" a foreign nation. This is the Bahamas problem and we are providing a lot of aid but it is up to the local government to distribute that aid ... as a general rule most nations do not like foreign military on their soil without approval and supervision. An "amphibious assault group" ... not.

The US provides a lot of aid around the globe, criticizing them every disaster makes one look petty. The US, UK, Canada, and other local nations are coordinating a massive relief effort, if anyone thinks that effort would be better served without US support they are misinformed.

Oh ... and the storm was not done wreaking havoc on our own soil. Those on our side of the political spectrum complain that the US thinks they are the world's police ... which can be legitimate at times, but when disaster strikes those same people surely expect the US to be the world's 911.

Trump is a dick, incompetent, and just generally wrong on everything. When the times comes for action I will bet on the US over any other country on the planet. We do a lot of good ... just because our current leader is a fuck up, that does not change.

[Niagara]

17. Devestating

[sheshe2]

19. Whole family's gone.

...

[malaise]

21. Up to yesterday 23 members of Sidney Poitier's family

were missing

[FakeNoose]

34. Is it possible that any of them got on boats and survived the storm?

Maybe some people are stranded on other islands and can't get back home. It's going to be a while until they know all the numbers, I think.

Still this is an enormous tragedy, and it points to the serious danger of settling and living on Caribbean islands. Really this could happen anywhere in the Caribbeans, and it has happened way too often.

[malaise]

39. Got on boats?

Have you seen the boats tossed miles inland?
Who was going to survive in those waters on a boat?

[FakeNoose]

41. I was thinking some could have left early and beaten the storm

They did have a few days' notice that the storm was coming.

[malaise]

45. OK - yes some folks did evacuate

but many didn't.
Most of those who evacuated have communicated with family and friends.

Thousands have not communicated with anyone.
I'm hearing that families have been wiped out - locals and some from overseas who lived there.

[Skidmore]

55. Like here,

not everyone can afford to evacuate. As f as r as coming to the US, not everyone can do that either. Most people there work for the hospitality industry and not in management jobs either.

[sheshe2]

47. 23?

My heart is breaking.

[malaise]

49. Here

https://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/at-least-23-members-of-sidney-poitiers-family-are-missing-in-bahamas-38479513.html

At least 23 of Sidney Poitier's extended family are feared missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.

The actor-director's nephew Jeffrey Poitier (66) said his sister Barbara and his adult children were among relatives they were awaiting news from in Freeport, Bahamas.

The family is one of hundreds scrambling to locate their loved ones a week after the category 5 hurricane wreaked devastation across the islands. In some cases, entire families were missing.

"We still couldn't find any, nor have we heard from them," Mr Poitier said. "We are still looking for and waiting for them to appear soon. It has us all worried. We are trying to reach out to them using every means available to us but we are not hearing anything. We are deeply worried."

[AllaN01Bear]

20. here is a link that dosent complain if u r using a adblocker.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/10/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-death-toll-devastation-latest

[malaise]

23. Thanks

[gademocrat7]

24. Devastating and heartbreaking agony.

Evil runs amok in this administration. They are soulless. The Bahamas should be receiving all the aid we can give and more.

[bdamomma]

32. then you have comments like this from the POS squatter in the WH.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/9/1884505/-Trump-warns-of-very-bad-people-coming-from-Bahamas-to-U-S

“I don’t want to allow people that weren’t supposed to be in the Bahamas to come into the United States, including some very bad people and some very bad gang members, and some very, very bad drug dealers,” Trump continued.

The president claimed that "large sections" of the Bahamas were not hit by Dorian, and that the U.S. would seek to relocate Bahamians in need to those parts of the country.

My comment I hope there is some sort of intervention to Shut this fucking pig up.

[Falcata]

66. Read post #57

[CaptainTruth]

25. Looking at the devastation, I expect thousands dead.

So sad. How can anyone see this & refuse to do anything about climate change?

[a kennedy]

27. I'm just sick......it will be thousands dead,and the beautiful Bahama islands

will never be the same......ever.

[bdamomma]

28. horrible just horrible

then you have this: we will have children with many mental health issues. Why is this POS pResident right now? There is no humanity in this regime, then there is Stephen Miller.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/latinamerica/latinamerica-top-stories/girl-12-is-split-from-her-family-in-hurricane-ravaged-bahamas-before-being-separated-from-her-godmother-on-arrival-in-the-us-and-placed-in-a-shelter-for-abandoned-children/ar-AAH8Vqd?li=AABYAMs&ocid=mailsignout

[FM123]

30. Oh no, even worse than we thought!

Do something DeSantis! There are survivors we can still help - FL can not close our eyes and our hearts! No more of this states rights/federal decision crap - come on man!

[BigmanPigman]

33. I thought it would be close to the numbers from Puerto Rico.

Now I think it will surpass that 3,000 number.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. not 'presumed dead' - list has not yet been checked against those in shelters or evacuated

The list was announced by Carl Smith, a spokesman for the country's National Emergency Management Agency (Nema), but he expressed caution as a database was still being processed and some of the people already evacuated had yet to register their names.

"At this point there are approximately 2,500 on the Bahamian government register," Mr Smith said at a press conference.

"This list has not yet been checked against government records of who is staying in shelters or who have been evacuated," he said.

The number is likely to fall as the cross-checking is carried out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49666942

[malaise]

40. That's not what my folks are telling me

I'm going with people I've known for 40 plus years.

[muriel_volestrangler]

70. Hurricane Dorian: Number of missing drops to 1,300

Emergency services in the Bahamas say the number of missing following Hurricane Dorian stands at 1,300.

The number is down from the 2,500 listed missing earlier this week.

The National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) said the drop in numbers came after cross-referencing names of the missing with those in shelters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49682121

[malaise]

71. That isn't even the number for folks in The Mud

I well remember the Haitian earthquake and how folks thought we were overstating the numbers. We are in the Carubbean.

[cwydro]

67. That's what MSNBC said this morning also.

They don’t know who has evacuated, who went to shelters and haven’t been counted as safe yet.

[MissouriLibrul]

42. Poor Haitians...

From 1997 until 2009, I worked for a manufacturer/distributor of a popular family-owned green food supplement. One of the company’s founders was a wonderful humanitarian. Before his death, he created a charitable foundation (as his legacy) which would provide the green food supplement powder and water filtration systems to some of the world’s most impoverished places. Haiti having suffered numerous natural disasters was first on the list.

Obviously, the green-food supplement powder required water, which is why the water filtration units (very rudimentary but very effective) were imperative. The water in much of Haiti was horrific - full of animal and human waste. To see so many people in dire need of clean drinking water made our company’s mission feel so puny and insignificant at times. But seeing the impact a single water filtration system plus complete nutrition in the form of a powdered drink could have on an entire village (particularly the children!) gave our customers every reason to continue donating and our company every reason to continue its mission. Our initial goal was that 85% of every dollar donated would go directly to the nutrition and water filtration units and 15% to administrative costs (that was the lowest amount we could allocate to admin because it covered the costs of flying volunteers back and forth to/from Haiti; shipping costs for the supplies, and the meager salaries of the two HQ staff members who kept the entire foundation running).

We were so naive. So, so naive. The actual bottom line turned out this way: 40% for the food supplement and water filtration units; 15% admin and 45% to Haitian government officials so they would grant us access to the villages most in need. Friends who still work there say the mission has continued but the governments of the countries most in need are also the most corrupt. No wonder so many poor Haitians migrated. Sadly, it seems the Bahamian government cares very little for its poorest communities; most likely the Haitian immigrants. How disgraceful that every one of the major resorts unaffected by Dorian isn’t providing basic shelter for the displaced Bahamians as undoubtedly they’ve been more than happy to make money off of their backs for years.

[Bayard]

48. Interesting perspective

Thanks for posting, and welcome to DU.

[malaise]

51. The tension between Bahamians and Haitians is palpable

The vast majority treat them the way the US treats poor Latin Americans.
The comments page in the Nassau Tribune was a peak into that reality but I know from personal experience how poor Haitians are used and abused in many sectors in the Bahamas.

Good post

[Duppers]

65. The overwhelming greed in the world

Saddens me immensely.

[mcar]

43. I knew it would be bad

But this is horrible.

[mountain grammy]

44. Watching that storm sit there

and the destruction, I thought at minimum there would be 1000 dead. This is absolutely devastating.

[LittleGirl]

46. Just broken...

Those poor people didn’t have a chance.
Omg, so many.


I don’t know how to put these feelings into words right now.

[GETPLANING]

50. During the height of the storm at least 50% of the island was under water.

I will be surprised if the death toll is only 2500.

[James48]

52. More. Many many more.

I understand the extent and duration of what I saw by satellite photos during the storm, and the sat photos after, and it would not surprise me if that number goes much, much higher.

Many of the islands are ten feet or less above sea level, and the water levels were at least that in some locations. It is possible there are tens of thousands dead, we just haven’t been able to understand that yet.

[90-percent]

53. if they manage to find anybody still alive floating in the ocean....

leave them there. They are probably rapists, drug dealers, murderers or disease carriers.

-90% Jimmy

[EveHammond13]

54. holy shit

[applegrove]

58. .

[Cetacea]

59. I expect that number to rise to 40 thousand

Of course there will be no way to account for many who were washed out to sea.

[Lucky Luciano]

64. The entire population of the Bahamas us 370000.

[malaise]

61. Sadly you are right

This is live changing - generations were wiped out here

[Recursion]

68. My God that's almost 1% of their population

That's almost unimaginable, particularly with another 20% homeless. And we won't do a #(*$ing thing to help

[northoftheborder]

69. ...and on top of all this tragedy....

another tropical circulation is developing headed for the Bahamas....