MCLEAN’S TOWN: Jeffrey Roberts lifted a mustard-yellow curtain from the ground to hunt for passports and other documents at the place where his family’s home stood before Hurricane Dorian blasted into Grand Bahama Island.

What was underneath was sodden and unrecognizable. He shuffled across a white tile floor, the only clear sign this had once been a house, and found a pair of rusty old pliers, only to toss them in frustration. They clattered across the tiles, breaking the silence that had enveloped the fishing community of McLean’s Town.

Roberts was one of thousands of people beginning to return to salvage what few scraps they can from the devastation of Dorian, even as the dark storm clouds of Tropical Storm Humberto hovered above Saturday to remind that that the storm season has not yet passed.

In this case, at least, that was a break: Humberto narrowly missed the island over the weekend and was projected to curve north and then northeast, staying well off of Florida’s east coast.

By Sunday morning, the US National Hurricane Centre said the storm was located about 135 miles (220 kilometres) north-northwest of Great Abaco Island and was moving at 7 mph (11 kph) north-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph).

The US National Hurricane Center said it would likely become a hurricane by Sunday night, but would remain far from the Bahamas and the US coast by the time it reaches that strength.

The storm briefly shuttered a couple of small airports, sent people in damaged homes to seek shelter and threatened to interrupt the distribution of sorely needed supplies, including food and water.

As the storm passed, however, Roberts and others were already returning to the task at hand: resuming their cleanup and recovery efforts in communities such as McLean’s Town devastated by Hurricane Dorian two weeks ago.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the nearby island of Great Abaco on Saturday to support humanitarian efforts in the wake of the storm, which left thousands in need of food, water and shelter.

“Hurricane Dorian has been classified as Category 5. I think it’s Category Hell,” the secretary-general said, adding he was horrified by the “level of systematic devastation.”

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2019