By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

A chief councillor confirmed businesses have not suffered damage from the effects of Hurricane Erin while marinas in the central Bahamas remain under a tropical storm watch.

Chief Councillor of Mayaguana Vincent Murphy told Tribune Business there were no damaging impacts from category 4 Hurricane Erin - which veered north of The Bahamas but which affected the area with tropical storm conditions. 

Businesses on Mayaguana “are intact”, Mr Murphy added. He said three shelters, one in Abrahams Bay, Pirate’s Well and Betsy Bay, were prepared in case of an emergency.

“We did not have any effect, no damage,” Mr Murphy said. “We was on stand by with hurricane shelters, just in case we had to do some evacuation. But it’s calm, little off and on rain, but [it] didn’t have any effect at all.”

Mr Murphy said while the island experienced a power outage on Sunday, power has been restored.

“The backup generator is there, up and running,” he added. “So we had an outage of power for two, three hours last night, and everything is back to normal, just the winds going from the north about 40 something miles. It’s just off and on, but it’s doing fine.”

Mario Murphy, who owns and manages Majon Bed Bath & Breakfast with his wife Gina Murphy, was out of town when the storm hit. Mr Murphy said the weather led to a guest cancellation. He confirmed that his business did not suffer any damage in the passing of the storm, noting that his brother Vincent Murphy was “monitoring it”.

“We had some guests coming but the guests had cancelled due to that weather,” Mario Murphy said. “Once that weather was coming upon us, our guests had cancelled. So no one was there at that time, and we weren’t there. We were on vacation, just was on our way back.

“My brother was there. He was monitoring it. The last time I spoke to him, he said he didn’t see a need to [shutter up the bed and breakfast] because the winds hadn’t picked up. It wasn’t that bad, only the rough sea. But he didn’t see that it was necessary but he was on standby with the stuff just in case.

With reports from the Department of Meteorology stating that “Erin is likely to become even larger over the coming days” and “a tropical storm watch is in effect for portions of the Central Bahamas” resorts and marinas in Long Island and Cat Island are preparing for a possible hit. Rollezz Villas & Beach Resort, Flying Fish Marina and the Stella Maris all noted that no guests are currently staying at their establishments.

Krystel Brown, a representative of Rollezz Villas & Beach Resort, added: “When we last spoke to individuals who are on property, they were removing all of the beach equipment, putting everything inside, just in case. The thing about Rollezz is a lot of our stuff is hurricane-resilient. So for instance, our windows and our doors are hurricane impact. So there’s not much that we really have to do, except for making sure that all of the stuff are off the beach. But other than that, preparation is very minimal. And we have no one at the resort right now, so it makes it easy for us to prepare in situations like this.”

Jill Smith, owner and operator of Stella Maris said the west coast marina “is well protected.” and those who own small crafts are “tying up boats a little stronger than normal or moving to more protected areas.” She added: “We lost power last night, this morning - just now again. Thankfully no tourists in house to have to worry about. The rest of us? We know what to do.

“We have moderate windy weather right now - and according to forecast hurricane will pass well off of our east coast! We are expecting, however, some rain bands along with tropical force winds tonight… so have secured all outside furniture of the premises and anything we think may fly away. The ocean is churning crazy so obviously all small craft is in!”

Jamal Moss, the dock master at Flying Fish Marina in Long Island, said they do not allow boats to stay in the marina during a storm and they will empty the marina. 

“And basically, two days before the hurricane gets close by, we normally tie everything down, strap any loose wood, strap it up, lock off all the fuel cabinets, and basically put up shutters and send all the workers home so they could deal with their private stuff,” Mr Moss added. “And that’s basically it. That’s all we could do.”