‘VI will assist’ – Premier Fahie to Dr Minnis

Hon Fahie said in a statement released late Sunday afternoon, September 1, 2019, said, “I just spoke with the Prime Minister of Bahamas Dr Hubert Minnis at length. I shared with him that the people in the BVI is praying for his people. I told him that having gone through the experience in 2017, BVI is more than willing to assist.”

He said the Virgin Islands is more than willing to provide advice on best practices on the way forward.

Early images and video emerging from the Abaco Islands—which were hit especially hard overnight—showed scenes of devastation as the powerful, slow-moving storm churned its way through the islands.

“People of the BVI we have been seeing preliminary images and reports emerging out of The Bahamas indicating that there is already widespread flooding and damage to homes and property resulting from Hurricane Dorian,”

In further appeals to residents of the Virgin Islands and the wider community, the Premier called for prayers in support of the Islands, “for surely we can empathise with the people of The Bahamas, having experienced the wrath of nature’s forces only two years ago,” he said.

US Coast in spotlight

Ahead of the Hurricane’s landfall on the US coast, he called on residents to pay keen interest to friends and family in Florida

“We also must direct our thoughts to our relatives and friends who are presently in Florida, and those who have interests there. Please check in on their whereabouts and do whatever you can to help them as they make preparations.

Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane and is a threat for the US Southeast from Florida to North Carolina this week.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered along the Southeast coast.