Hurricane Dorian Responsible for $3.4 Billion in Losses on Bahamas, Report Says – The Weather Channel

Devastation is seen in Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, Bahamas, on Sept. 11, 2019.

About $3.4 billion in losses was caused in the Bahamas alone by Hurricane Dorian a number equivalent to one-fourth of the nation's gross domestic product according to a report released Friday.

The report by the Inter-American Development Bank also echoed the previously reported death toll of 67 and number of missing, 282, as of late October.

When the Category 5 monster hit the northwestern Bahamas in early September, it left some 29,500 people homeless, without jobs or both, the report added.

(MORE: Cows Washed Away During Hurricane Dorian Found Alive and Well)

The development bank said reconstruction will require big investments and will take many years. Dorian was one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever to make landfall, unleashing a storm surge of up to 25 feet.

Destruction of homes and other buildings as well as infrastructure caused damage amounting to $2.5 billion, with 87% reported in Abaco and the remainder in Grand Bahama, according to the development bank.

Some 9,000 homes were damaged and seven schools destroyed, leading to the reassignment of 1,500 displaced students, the report said. It described damage to some tourism facilities as "catastrophic."

Another $717 million in losses was caused by the storms impact on the production of goods and services provided, with the private sector sustaining 84% of that total, the report said. It estimated another $221 million in costs for the cleanup of an oil spill in Grand Bahama and debris removal and demolition.

Atisha Kemp, an activist in the capital of Nassau, said Bahamians are frustrated with the government and that many of the displaced are still living in tents, with power and water lacking in some areas.

"Things are a mess," she said. "Everything is at a standstill."

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Hurricane Dorian Responsible for $3.4 Billion in Losses on Bahamas, Report Says - The Weather Channel