By YOURI KEMP

An Abaco poultry farm yesterday revealed that Hurricane Dorian had inflicted "at least $1m in damages" and "pretty much destroyed" the 100-acre business.

Lance Pinder, operations manager at Abaco Big Bird Poultry Farm, told Tribune Business that the restoration of electricity and banking services were critical to enabling his business and others to rebuild as rapidly as possible.

He called on the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Defence Force to beef up their presence against looting and other potential criminal activity, revealing that several neighbours in south Abaco had taken to patrolling with guns to deter any threats.

"We estimate that we have at least $1m in damages or more. We are still assessing things now over our 100 acres of property," Mr Pinder said. "Our farms are pretty much destroyed right now, and there is no access to banking facilities. They need to get a mobile bank or something here as soon as possible.

"While you may have access to gasoline from the gas station in Sandy Point, or even access to some dry goods from the store in Sandy Point, you still don't have any money to buy any of it because there are no banks to get money from."

He argued that "south Abaco should be the staging ground for banking services and commercial activities now, because Marsh Harbour is totally gone and the south is virtually untouched by the storm when compared to central and north Abaco".

Mr Pinder, however, voiced optimism that South Abaco's electricity supply can be restored within the next week to ten days, given that this part of the island was less impacted by Dorian's category five winds and storm surge.

Water has only been partially restored, and Mr Pinder added: "Luckily for us our generator survived the storm and we have been able to create clean water from our facilities and at least six pounds of ice a day, both of which we give away to persons."

"Thus far our freezers are relatively intact. Only one had trouble, but the other three are up and running just fine. Our processing room has significant damage, and it would take many months before we are able to have it back up and running.

"We had insurance on our buildings, but no crop insurance, and it is something that we have been battling with the government for years to help us to get sorted out. You simply cannot get crop insurance from the private insurers unless the Government is involved or supports it in some way," Mr Pinder continued.

"Our avocado farms are totally gone, and our lime groves are totally wiped out. I estimate out of the 15 acres we had, only 10 percent of the trees are sparsely left standing. We also have been giving people chickens because an issue came up as a result of people who may be experiencing protein deficiency, a doctor stationed on Abaco from a foreign aid group told one of my neighbours. It's only so far Vienna sausages and grits can take you."

Mr Pinder revealed that safety and security remained major issues for remaining Abaco residents amid fears of looting. "We have resorted to a few of our neighbours patrolling the south Abaco area with guns to keep us safe because we were worried that the looting would spread," he added.

"After a few complaints to the police, we have seen a little more police presence now than we saw last week and right after the storm. But it's still not enough, and they have to do more to ensure the safety and security for the residents."

The Abaco Big Bird manager said the only store open on Abaco has solely dry goods, with his farm possessing the only functioning refrigeration unit on the island "as far as we know".

"Some food stuff has been able to trickle in from the foreign aid groups, but we have seen nothing from NEMA. There is still nowhere to get anything fresh," Mr Pinder complained.

He added that, with the help of Abaco's fire truck, the farm had supplied the World Food Programme with 2,000 gallons of water to assist the preparation of meals for persons in Marsh Harbour and the surrounding areas.

Asked by Tribune Business if there were any viable docking facilities in south Abaco, Mr Pinder replied: "Boats have only been coming in through Marsh Harbour." He explained that Sandy Point has a small dock, but it is not a protected harbour and only viable for small pleasure craft.