Hurricane Fiona impacted portions of the southeastern Bahamas but there were no reports of any significant damage on the islands.
The storm impacted Mayaguana for much of the afternoon, lashing the island with strong winds and heavy rain. Meanwhile, Inagua, Crooked Island and Acklins reported gusts and rain.
Mayaguana Island Administrator Keffieann Ferguson said last night that Fiona knocked out power on the island, which also disabled water supply on the island.
Fiona was a Category 3 storm last night as it lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands. Mayaguana experienced tropical storm conditions.
Ferguson said the island was hit by gusty winds and heavy rain.
The island’s three shelters had a combined total of 32 people in them.
“About an hour ago, we had power outage as a result of fire on three poles,” she said.
“The power is off and will remain off until the all clear.
“Because Water and Sewerage has no back up generator, water is off for the entire island.”
In a statement yesterday, the Office of the Prime Minister noted that a team of Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers were on the island.
“… A defense force vessel stands ready to depart for Mayaguana … with additional manpower, food and water, generators and other recovery tools and equipment should the need arise,” it said.
OPM added, “We encourage residents, those in the southeastern Bahamas in particular, to monitor the developments of Hurricane Fiona as we seek to safeguard life and property.”
Ferguson said residents did what they could.
“They took all the preliminary measures to secure their home as best as possible,” she said.
“We have a challenge here with materials, mainly plywood.
“There wasn’t even sufficient to properly secure even all of our buildings.”
Eleven people were airlifted from Mayaguana to Exuma yesterday morning.
Ferguson explained that those residents had comorbidities and were deemed high risk.
“We are hopeful,” she said.
“I understand that an hour ago the storm slowed down a bit. It’s now at eight miles per hour. So that wasn’t good news.”
Fiona, which had winds up to 115 miles per hour, was expected to continue its north northwest track into the night and turn north today.
It is expected to approach Bermuda tomorrow.
