Member of Parliament for Long Island Loretta Butler Turner has said her constituents are terrified of the potential damage of Hurricane Matthew, only a year removed from another catastrophic storm.

In an interview with The Journal, Mrs. Butler-Turner said thoughts of Déjà vu are rampant among residents.

“In speaking with many of my people they are frightened and afraid of what possibly could happen. We received an announcement that Bahamasair will be suspending flights as of Monday,” she said.

“Persons are very afraid for their wellbeing and for their possessions. It’s not easy having lived through a very horrific hurricane just 12 months ago,” Mrs. Butler Turner said.

As far as the overall preparedness of the island, Mrs. Butler Turner said there was still a lot work that needed to be completed on Long island, but teams and persons are in place to assist if need be.

“Well to be honest with you I don’t think anybody is ever fully prepared for the onslaught of a strong hurricane, The Disaster Preparedness Committee has been working around the clock for the last two weeks and have raised their activity level with expect arrival of Hurricane Matthew.

“Saturday made it officially one year since we were hit by Hurricane Joaquin and there was still a lot of worked that needed to be done as far as people fully getting themselves restored.

“There is still a lot of infrastructural issues that need capital development, in terms of our clinic, packinghouse, road works, fuel a lot of it is still undone.

“From my perspective as an MP I will be keeping a close eye on this hurricane and I have already received phone calls from persons who helped us last year with relief and restoration and they are ready to be deployed again if the worst happens.

Director of the National Emergency Management Agency Captain Stephen Russell added that the residents have every right to be afraid due to previous experiences.

“What they went through with Hurricane Joaquin last year, any idea of a hurricane would terrify those persons.

“Many of those persons had very traumatic experiences.

“The storm is set to directly affect them again,” Mr. Russell said.

In a press conference held Friday the National Emergency Agency Management revealed they spent over $100m on infrastructural repairs islands affected by Hurricane Joaquin.

They also stated that repairs were done on 117 homes in Long Island.

In October of last year, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said that one in every 10 homes it had assessed was “completely destroyed”.

A damage assessment report compiled for NEMA at that time showed that 35 of the 317 homes assessed in Long Island were left uninhabitable, while a total of 117 were classified as “substantially damaged” by Joaquin.

The report indicated that 159 of the 317 homes assessed to that point received minor damage as a result of the storm.