Rainbow Bay, Eleuthera. My husband just spoke to Karen Qualls who weathered Floyd in Eleuthera with Shirley and Frank Gross. Not a lot of info, but will share what I have. Frank and Shirl safe, their main house lost it's roof and one cottage lost partial roof. Our house and garage, which is located on the Caribbean side behind Rainbow Inn, lost shingles on one side only of house, and possible flooding in garage. Pierre and Gigi's house (the big brown house and garage south of ours on Lazy Shore, Karen and Bob Qualls old place) faired well also. Karen said it was strange, that Floyd kinda hit and missed.
Bob is returning with building supplies.

Am looking for info on condition of the WEST side of Elbow Cay... specifically the Fry's Mangrovew area just south of the Hopetown Harbour light. ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated.

For Doug Foltz: Please let me know anything you hear concerning Hopetown lighthouse marina. I also have a boat there...or did. Thanks. Ray

Hi My name is Karen Qualls my husband Bob and I returned from Eleuthera yesterday we were staying with friends, the Boonstra's in Rainbow Bay when the huricane hit. Mostly water damage due to loss of shingles on roofs , Frank & Shirl Gross lost their roof in their main house.My husband Bob will be returning to the island Friday if anyone wishes to send a message to anyone he will be glad to relay it. Contact 954-575-0126 fax/phone or ceq@gateway.net

Posted by: Russell Mack (web page)
Host: cc906063-a.stcl1.mi.home.com
IP #: 24.2.209.12
E-mail:
Date Posted: September 18, 1999 at 13:00:49
Subject: TC update from Robert Meister
Message:

I went to Treasure Cay on Thursday (9/18), so here
are some facts and news
of what we know so far.

First of all, THANKS for all the tremendous
support.
If you want to help, The Bahamas Government has
set up a monetary relief
fund and here is the information for anyone who
wants to donate money:
BAHAMAS HURRICANE RELIEF FUND
FIRST UNION BANK MIAMI
200 S BISCAYNE BLVD
MIAMI, FL 33131
ACCOUNT NO. 209 000 199 2950

PLEASE DO NOT go to Treasure Cay unless you have
some kind of permission or
permit from the Bahamas Government or other
emergency reason. You need
permission even if you just want to drop off
relief supplies,
but you need to make sure that Local Government
Social Service Administrators
receive them at Customs. You will be charged duty
otherwise.
Main customs officer at TC is Mr. Bethel. If you
need
to come in, you must bring your documents. Please
check for updates,
because policies will change at some point.

HERE IS MY BRIEF REPORT:
The roads are open to TC with SOME flooding
(receding now),
debris and powerlines down including within TC.
The good news is, Richard Collins (our engineer)
has performed
a minor miracle and restored approx. 1/3 of power
capacity which covers the
central area including administration/reception
center, supermarket, medical
clinic, the long building and other areas. The bad
news is that all of our
other generators in the power plant were flooded 3
feet deep with saltwater
and are inoperable, maybe not even salvageble. We
have already rented an
additional generator for TC, but it will take time
to get it there.

Batelco's main phone exchange at TC was flooded
with saltwater.

GOOD NEWS. Believe it or not, the marina has
surprisingly little damage to
the docks with only one small dock down and a few
planks bend or missing.
Most boats look almost untouched, but some have
minor damage
to railings, outriggers, etc.
Status Report:
MARK KIM sank.
PHOEBUS-hull damage starboard side
JUSTICE-bad, most damaged boat in marina
WIND CHIME-damage to sail only
ELEGANTE-some damage to hull
BETH SHEEBA-some hull damage
BONJOUR-damage to starboard side
If your boat is NOT on this list, consider
yourselves lucky.
You might have a broken antenna or outriggers or
nothing at all.
If you need to contact us, please call
954-525-7711.

The hotel (Harbour Houses) building is intact,
especially the newer roofs did
very well with almost no damage. Parts of the
older roofs came off and shingles
are gone. The worst is the flooding damage. We
estimate that storm surge was
around 8 to 10 feet and saltwater got in the lower
level of rooms.
Several windows have blown out and A/C's are gone
because of saltwater
damage. Part of the seawall in front of hotel
collapsed.

More good news. The Tipsy Seagull has very mild
damage (we all need a drink
after this one). The Spinnaker Restaurant has
about 8 windows blown in,
therefore the inside is a mess. Carpet is history
and kitchen got flooded as
well. There is a hole in the roof on the backside.

The administration center is fine (which is of
great help to us).

The real estate office collapsed.

Windward Beach was still inaccessable, because of
downed trees.
I was told, almost every home has serious flood
damage and this area
is among the worst off. Storm surge at the resort
was around 8-10 feet
we estimate. Kiki Graetz almost drowned. She held
on to a pole or piling
in her house while water was gushing through. I am
sure there are more
stories like this of which we will hear.
The Tillberg house roof collapsed and the house is
a total
mess, but Mr. and Mrs. Tillberg survived. They
drove to the shelter
during the eye of the storm.
Phil English's house has a boat ? in his living
room and the front side
is bad.
John Williams has his car buried almost completely
in sand .
And on and on and on, the damage to homes is
extensive and sure will be
in tens of millions dollars. Structurally, the
majority of buildings
did reasonably well, but once you have a leak and
there are plenty,
even a small one, everything got wet inside. And
you know what
saltwater does to your belongings and electrical
outlets.
Many homes and condos have lost shingles or more.
Trailers flipped over, one was sitting on top of a
pickup truck.
The canal behind Atlantis is a complete mess.
The docks are warped, boats sitting on top of
warped docks, docks sitting
on top of boats, boats sitting on top of lawns and
a boat squeezed between
a wall and Atlantis condo like it was parked there
intentionally.
Several boats sunk right there on that canal.
One boat was washed out the canal, into the marina
and across the bay
1/2 a mile away.
The old barge outside the marina entrance now sits
in front of the Kiebler
house, which looked bad from the air.

We anticipate to reopen the hotel, villas by
December, if not earlier.
The Marina could be open earlier. Our biggest
problem is the electrical
damage and tests will have to be done. We already
had two minor fires
when power was restored to certain areas. Please
be careful, when the power
comes back.

In certain areas, bark was sheared off trees and
every tree is down.
The vegetation is virtually gone and it does look
like a bomb went off.
However, this will come back quickly (3-6 months).
A saw a confused hummingbird looking for flowers,
but there are none.
I saw one dead kitten and someone in GTC saw a
bird without feathers.

Mr. Pinder and other people in the shelter heard
the hurricane hunter plane
over TC during the eye (I will give National
Hurricane Center a call).

Immediately after the storm, we (Treasure Cay
Services) started a relief fund
with 4 South Florida locations for dropoffs.
We already sent two planeloads full of relief
supplies including a packed
cargo-converted Gulfstream Intl. Beechcraft.
Thanks to Wendy Clements.
These supplies went to Fox Town, Coopers Town, and
to TC.
Jim Nawn of Green Turtle Club has been active for
GTC.
As of last night, he said they needed manpower,
because everyone is
working on their roofs.
Several of our employees have structural damage
and flooding in their homes.

It is almost a miracle, that no one died or had a
major injury.
In Fox Town, several people in a shelter left the
church during the eye and
ran to another shelter because the roof was in bad
shape. When they
came back after the storm, the church roof was
gone.
The prime minister yesterday said on the radio,
that virtually
everyone is homeless in Fox Town. Coopers Town
looked bad from the air with
several homes completely destroyed.

Sorry, that I couldn't get this out quicker, but
we were overwhelmed with
calls and logistical problems.

If you want to offer help, you can e-mail us at
info@treasurecay.com and list
your phone number please. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

More soon,

Robert Meister
President
Treasure Cay Services, Inc

Wondering about travelling to San Sal on Thursday Sept. 23. Worried about the status of my home on grotto beach-share the same building as Wenzell Jones, manager of BEC for san sal. Please email any info to dhinatsucx@hotmail.com
Thank you.

Any information about the south end of Eleuthera, Cotton Bay, Waterford, Davis Harbor Marina, Weymss Bight, Deep Creek? @aol.com">janga431@aol.com

Can anyone tell me the condition of Cambridge Villas in Gregory Town, Eleuthera?

I left IOP at 2 pm on Tuesday and arrived home in Summerville near Summerville HS around 4.30pm.

How did I do it? I followed a combination of US 17 North, SC 402 and US 52, but also a mix of county and fire roads to cut around traffic via Awendaw, Huger, Cordesville and Jedburg.

At Wal-Mart, you can buy a SC County Road map atlas. 61 Pages-detail down to the county road numbers. Then all you have to do is match those against the county road numbers against the marker plates on the side of every stop sign.

I'm sure I drove double the milage that the most direct route home and it may have taken me 30 minutes less to follow this route in the best of conditions. But I was able to travel safely and get home to my family where I was needed-which is all that matters when disaster is approaching.

Most of those roads had few if any vehicles on them-a far cry from the main routes. They're there-may as well us them.

Any questions-email me.

Wild Dunes power is back on. Very little damage to the beaches that were seen. Lots of leaf loss (30 -50%) on live oaks in some places. Some palms down but no biggie. Can be replaced. Storm damage to some homes including mine along Morgan Creek in Yacht Harbor and Morgan Cove. Most minor, at least one has partial roof loss. Dock D at the marina was damaged but floating with boats. Storm debris everywhere but in 2 weeks you shouldn't know there was a storm. This is eyewitness report from my builder to me by phone last night at 10pm.

90% of Charleston has phone service.

Most boats on C dock are fine. The bad news if for those on F dock and the northern-most docks. Romance and another trawler sank. At least one sailboat on F dock sank. Most of the boats on F dock have damage, many with holes in their hulls.

Still no power at the marina

I have a list of damaged boats from the shipyard and some from White and Black Sounds.. e mail me your boat name and your name and I will check the list for you.

What is the status of the runway & docks at Spanish Cay

Looking for Pat and Dave Russell. Last known loaction was Abaco Towns by the Sea. If somebody should happen to run in to them, Please have them contact us (any one of the kids!!) to let us know they are ok.

Pat and Dave are vacationing down there and opted to stay. They are from Portage (Kalamazoo) Michigan.

Thanks for your help
Kathy & Mark Russell and Family