Race Against Time To Get Relief Supplies To Hurricane Dorian Victims In Grand Bahama, Abaco
NASSAU, Bahamas (CBSMiami) – It's a race against time to get food and supplies to the people in Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands following Hurricane Dorian's destruction.
Sally Gaskins is shipping a care package to her family.
"We're packing up stuff to send to our families in Grand Bahama," Gaskins said. "We have a lot of canned goods, water, medication lights, batteries, that sort of stuff, urgent stuff."
Sally Gaskin's daughter, grandchildren, and two brothers live there. Sally also has a home there, it was destroyed. While her brother's house held up, he needs extra help so he can help others.
"It is crucial, especially for one of my brothers," she said. "He had six-weeks supply of food but he's dwindling down because he took in an extra four families under his roof, so now it's five families under one roof."
Holly Parotti is sending a care package, or in this case "care pallet" to her family in Freeport.
"We definitely have water and a lot of cleaning supplies because they're cleaning up after floods and stuff like that," she said.
Parotti said she realizes this is just the beginning to doing whatever she can to help ease the suffering of her sister and aunt.
"This is only going to be the first run. This is what we're trying to get to them as quickly as possible, but we'll be making multiple trips out here," she said.
People are shipping whatever they can, as quickly as they can.
"I'm sending water, canned goods, washing stuff, ice, and a generator. I'm taking generators with me," said Toni Rolle.
She said her family is counting on her.
"My brother lost everything, the whole entire home is gone. My mom's lost 75, she has 25 percent of her home left," she said.
Aside from taking relief supplies, the "Mail Boat" cargo ship will also offer comfort for people when it docks in Freeport. People can take showers, grab a meal and even ger a ride out — all at no charge.
"We're going to be bringing out whoever wants to come out of those two ports because people need to get out they want to evacuate and of course the airport's closed," said Mail Boat's Liz Russell.
The company says it's their corporate duty.