As Hurricane Dorian brings widespread flooding and violent winds to the Bahamas, Canadians are frantically trying to reach their loved ones trapped by the storm in the Caribbean nation.
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Among them, Kristin Dudley has been desperately trying to contact her parents Sharyn Laughlin and Dennis Dudley, both doctors from Ottawa who were staying at their second home in Treasure Cay when the storm hit. Treasure Cay is located on Great Abaco Island in the northeast portion of the Bahamas where Dorian first made landfall.
Dudley’s parents are among the more than 220 Canadians currently in the Bahamas. Global Affairs Canada said it is “closely monitoring the storm’s path and is ready to provide assistance to Canadians.”
Dudley said she last spoke to her parents on Sunday afternoon as the storm passed through the area. They were huddled in their attic as water levels rose.
“The main floor was underwater,” she said. “The ocean had come in. All the windows and doors had been blown in.”
Dudley said her father is diabetic, “so we are concerned because we're not sure if he has his medication.”
It could be days before Dudley will be able to contact her parents as Bahamas Power and Light has reported a “total island-wide outage” in New Providence, the Bahamas’ most populous island. There are no status updates of the power on Great Abaco Island, though reports suggest it is among the hardest-hit regions.
“We weren’t really hearing things, we were seeing videos of Marsh Harbour and the devastation and things were completely gone,” Dudley said.
Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis confirmed in a Monday press conference that there have been at least five deaths on the Abaco Islands.
Dudley has started a GoFundMe page for hurricane relief in the Abacos Islands.
