Carnival Cruise Ship Leaves Baltimore To Give Aid, Supplies To Parts Of Bahamas Destroyed By Hurricane Dorian
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Carnival cruise ship left Baltimore on Sunday, headed for Freeport, the main city on the Grand Bahama Island, which was decimated by Hurricane Dorian.
It's carrying all kinds of relief and supplies.
The Carnival Foundation and its nine global cruise lines, along with private donors- have pledged to donate $2 million in funding for hurricane relief efforts.
They loaded up fresh water, generators, medical supplies and prepared foods onto the ship.
The ship's captain and guests will first stop in Freeport before continuing on their vacation.
"Once you pull up, you get to see it for yourself, and your guests get to see it, I think it'll hit closer to home," said Eversee Bevelle, cruise director for Carnival Pride.
Parts of the Bahamas are recovering after Hurricane Dorian raged against the island areas for nearly 48 hours, killing at least 43 people as of Sunday.
An estimated 70,000 people are now homeless.
"The whole town is wiped out," Bevelle said.
People waited three hours for fuel at one of the island's few working gas stations, and there were long lines outside banks and grocery stores- as residents begin the long road to rebuilding their normal lives.
"I expect to see total devastation, but we see some walls of our house still up so we are hoping there is something we can salvage," A resident said.
Bevelle said he travels to Freeport almost every week, so this mission to help is deeply personal.
"Just because you have to rebuild, we're not turning our backs on you to get better, we want you to get back for Freeport to be whole again," He said.
The city of Freeport is typically one of the first stops on this cruise. The cruise line said whenever it can, it will continue to go back and forth with whatever supplies are needed.