Residents in Grand Bahama were in utter shock as they, this past Friday, recalled the alarming turn of events surrounding Hurricane Dorian. 

The Bahama Journal, while visiting Grand Bahama, found mounds of discarded furniture and personal belongings piled up in a number of front yards, water marks of at least five feet outside of buildings and homes a shell of what it once was.

Debra Knowles of Sunset Subdivision said, “When the water got as high as my windows, I watched a shark swim straight across my driveway. My nephew told me he already saw it, but he didn’t want to scare me.

“At one point, I was standing in my sofa because the water was to my knees at that point. The shark was able to comfortably swim over all of our fences. That’s how high the water was. They later found him dead in my neighbor’s yard.”

Towels, sheets and sandbags were no match to stop the rising water levels, forcing Debra and her nephew to seek higher ground.

“We slept in the roof. It’s a good thing my nephew works in construction because he had tools on-hand,” she said.

Her nephew nailed two pieces of wood to each side of her hallway, enabling both of them to climb into the manhole until flooding subsided, which she said took a few hours. 

Her refrigerator and other personal items flung across her home as Dorian continued to sweep sea water into many homes across the island. 

However, despite all that transpired, Debra said she is thankful to be alive.

“I’m only here because of the grace and mercy of God. He’s not ready for me yet. I have a lot of work to do for Him. That’s why I’m still standing,” she said.

So far, there have been eight confirmed Hurricane Dorian related deaths in Grand Bahama.