The Bahamas could face a billion dollar bill following the onslaught oif Hurricane Frances, much of it in lost tourism business and property damage.
With two fatalities, another person feared dead, widespread flooding and scores of tales of human misery in its wake, Frances will go down as the biggest, most frightening and possibly costliest storm to strike the Bahamas since the 1920’s.
As the Bahamian people began to count the cost yesterday, it became clear that the killer storm – the first to affect the entire Bahamas archipelago – is likely to bring in more insurance claims than ever before.
“It could run into hundreds of millions,” a business source said yesterday, “if you factor in lost tourism traffic, you are talking about a major financial setback for the country.”
Frances’ impact was particularly devastating for two reasons – it was massive in size, with a girth as big as Texas and also slow-moving, loitering over the Bahamas for four whole days.
Yesterday Tribune reporters flew over Freeport, Abaco and Eleuthera to survey the devastation.
In Freeport – the hardest hit area – the scene from the air was described as “heavily flooded with forests turned into marshland.” The low-lying island had become a gigantic swamp.
Government sources have already admitted that the budget has been “blown to bits” because no provision had been made in it for storm damage of this magnitude.
There is also likely to be an adverse effect on the second-home market – an important revenue-earner for the Bahamas – and investor confidence in general.
A business resource said last night: “islands like Abaco depend a lot on second home income. A lot of people are now going to be wondering whether to build a holiday home on an island that gets whacked by a hurricane every two or three years.
Frances was the third major hurricane to hit the Bahamas in five years. And even before clean-up starts to take place, another one is on its way.
Ivan is careening across the Caribbean with rising wind speeds – and the western Bahamas, including Andros appear to be in its path.By nine o’clock last night Ivan was already a Category Four hurricane.
Source: The Tribune
