"It hurts me to leave": Survivors left homeless days after Hurricane Dorian slams Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas — Five days after Hurricane Dorian tore through the Bahamas, the U.N. said more than 76,000 are in urgent need of food and water. CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste flew to the Abaco Islands, one of the hardest hit areas, on a U.S. government Black Hawk helicopter.
CBS News landed at what's now a shelter for survivors who have been waiting in terminal seats for days. Most are now homeless. Maxine Ferguson and her two teenage sons have been sleeping on a makeshift bed.
"Abaco has always been my home," she said.
Her home was 15 miles away. The hotel where she works is gone, too.
"It hurts me to leave. But my kids matter more," Ferguson said.
As they wait, a group of Abacos residents wait lined up. There are 76,000 people who need aid. Survivors with medical needs, pregnant women and children are a priority to evacuate.
A few hours after CBS News met Ferguson, she was told a plane was coming for her. She wants to get to Nassau where she has family. But she said, like so many in the Bahamas, she has no home insurance and no means to rebuild.
"There's nothing I could save"
CBS News correspondent Errol Barnett made it to Grand Bahama island Friday, and saw long lines of people waiting for food and water. He also witnessed the destruction left by Dorian.
For Kenneth Knowles and his family, taking an overnight ferry home to Freeport was bittersweet.
"We did suffer catastrophic damage at our business so we're now going home to try to see what's there," he said.
They were aboard a vessel carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid to those hardest hit by the storm. As soon as CBS News arrived and ventured through Freeport, there were people lined up for hours in hopes of getting ice and water.
Brenda Suberallen rode out the storm in Freeport and came back to her uprooted home to salvage what she could. "There's nothing I could save really, not a thing," she said.
The further east, the worse it gets. Then the only highway across the island, ends. The main highway out of Freeport has been completely devastated. A lot of people left their vehicles behind on the side of the road. That's one reason why it's so challenging to get aid through the country.
Keeno Lettice and his father are trying to make contact with friends they haven't spoken with since the storm. But seeing the state of the road, they turned back.