By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE Morton Salt plant was closed and secured on Saturday ahead of Hurricane Oscar’s “sudden” landfall as a category one hurricane, according to Jennifer Brown, head of the Bahamas Industrial, Manufacturers & Allied Workers Union (BIMAWU) which represents line staff there.

Speaking to Tribune Business yesterday, Ms Brown said Inagua had not been given the all-clear by the Department of Meteorology as yet so officials have not assessed the site for any potential damages from the storm.

“It just came so sudden,” said Ms Brown.

“They secured the plant on Saturday after the decision was made to close. We are still going through it, everyone is still indoors so I haven’t spoken to anyone from Morton’s yet, but officials will go around to check and do an assessment of everything once they can.”

Ms Brown said residents rushed to secure their properties once the hurricane warning was put in effect for the islands of the Southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands on Saturday.

Hurricane Oscar made landfall on Inagua early Sunday morning with winds of up to 75mph.

She said the electricity was cut off due to the wind and several trees were uprooted.

“There was a lot of activity yesterday, everyone was trying to batten their houses and do last minute things because everything just happened so quickly,” said Ms Brown.

“There was a lot of breeze, a lot of trees are down, I think there’s some damage in the electricity I saw a tree up a pole, its uprooted a lot of trees. Around 4am, they turned off the electricity. At the moment, its still off but they turned it off because of how much breeze it was.”

In a statement, BPL said the power supply in Inagua remains off and the utility has received reports of broken pole insulators.

“Supplies were restored in Mayaguana around noon. There are no reports of damage to our network. Supply remains off in Inagua. We have initial reports of broken pole insulators. Repairs and restoration will commence when it is safe for our teams,” said BPL.

Aliv notified consumers that they are experiencing outages in Inagua, Ragged Island and Mayaguana due to electricity issues.

The Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Authority’s latest update on the storm noted that residents in Inagua are also experiencing a disruption in their water supply due to the storm but there were no reports of injuries or significant infrastructure damages.

“BPL has reported that the power station was shut down at 4:08 a.m. as the weather deteriorated, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. Their teams are waiting for the opportunity to assess the station and report their findings. Additional updates related to power restoration will follow,” said the DRM.

“Residents in Inagua are also experiencing a disruption in their water supply, and teams from the Water and Sewerage Corporation are working to bring the reverse osmosis plants back online and restore service. Currently, there are no reports of injuries on the island or significant damage to infrastructure in Inagua. The DRM Authority plans to begin assessments as soon as the all-clear is given, possibly as early as tomorrow. As a precautionary measure, The DRM Authority has sent supplementary food items and relief supplies to Inagua.”

Bahamasair suspended flights to Inagua today and Cabinet advised that all Government offices on the island of Inagua, except for essential services, will be closed.

Last night, Hurricane Oscar was moving toward the west-southwest at a speed near 7 MPH. It was expected to continue a west-south-westward motion at a slower forward speed, followed by a turn toward the northwest and north on Monday and Tuesday.

A hurricane warning remains in effect for the islands of the Southeast Bahamas, including Mayaguana, Crooked Island, Acklins, Long Cay, Ragged Island, and Inagua.

A tropical storm watch is now in effect for the central Bahamas, including Exuma, Long Island, San Salvador, Rum Cay, and Cat Island.