Family members of hurricane victims yesterday gathered outside of Odyssey Aviation in the capital hoping to see a familiar face. 

The Bahama Journal caught up with Martista Turnquest and Raven Bootle from North Abaco, who said the last time they had a full conversation with their loved ones was this past Sunday and “bits and pieces” of information since then. 

“There hasn’t been much communication in North Abaco other than our family friend that had the satellite phone that was able to get 15 to 30 second calls out to his sister, who wasn’t even in The Bahamas. She was in Saint Thomas,” Ms. Turnquest explained. 

“She was able to communicate information back to me and that’s the only way we’ve been able to find out how they were doing. We only got a safe list for generally who we knew was okay around 3 a.m.”

Ms. Bootle, who was waiting to hear from her mom, aunt, grandmother, uncles, and close friends, expressed that this experience has been nerve wrecking for her. 

“To see photos and videos coming out of there and to see the messages of people calling for help are upsetting. The last thing I heard is my god sister, who is with my mom in our house in Treasure Cay, asking for help,” she said.

“When I asked if there was anyone injured, she said, ‘no.’ That was it. So, you don’t know from there if they got out, if they were able to get shelter and if anyone has been injured since then. There have been reports of people in Treasure Cay being injured.” 

Ms. Turnquest said, “ People say you shouldn’t jump to the worst case scenario and when you lose communication with people, and the only imagery that is coming out is words like ‘devastation’ and ‘total destruction,’  it’s very hard for you to sit by and just be hopeful.” 

Ms. Turnquest expressed that her family lives nowhere near the settlement getting the most coverage, leaving their loved ones stranded in Northern Abaco. 

“So, if it wasn’t for us communicating with them, we would’ve been on day four with absolutely no communication. We’re out here with loved ones who are our here waiting on loved ones that they haven’t heard from,” she said.

“We had to rally and use our own resources to get videos and planes flown over there. We definitely appreciate the valiant efforts of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the U.S. Coast Guard and everyone that is coming in to assist us.”