Daily Local News Briefs - September 9, 2004
Bahamas Information Service

US Coast Guard flies supplies to Grand Bahama
- Thousands of pounds of relief supplies were flown out Wednesday by a US Coast Guard C-130 aircraft to assist residents of Grand Bahama. The C-130 aircraft was transporting supplies donated by the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) to the Bahamas Red Cross Society. According to US Ambassador John Rood, the supplies were donated to the Red Cross two days ago.

Hurricane insurance claims could reach $350m
- Insurance industry executives Wednesday said total claims resulting from Hurricane Frances were likely to exceed the $250 million paid out following Hurricane Floyd in 1999, with some saying it might reach $350 million. With damage assessments still being carried out, the industry is so far being relatively conservative in its estimates for insured damages. Most of these are expected to come from Grand Bahama, with Abaco, Eleuthera, San Salvador, Cat Island and Long Island also having received a pounding during the storm.

NIB Reform Commission chair denies conflict claim
- Alfred Steward, the Social Security Reform Commission's chairman, Wednesday denied he had faced a potential conflict of interest in the body recommending that some National Insurance Board (NIB) funds be given to private sector companies to manage because of his position,with just such a firm Fidelity Merchant Bank and Trust.


2000 plus buildings declared uninhabitable -
Pounded relentlessly for hours on end by a storm with winds over 100 miles per hour, Grand Bahama, site of the nation's second city Freeport, bore the full brunt of Hurricane Frances'onset. During a press conference at the Port Authority building on Wednesday afternoon, director of Works Colin Marshall said that the total number of structures demolished or made uninhabitable by Frances'weekend passage dwarfed the count in the more sparsely populated south-eastern Bahamas. The hurricane's arrival was also accompanied by sea surges that resulted in flooding in many areas.

GB faces health crisis
"Grand Bahama is facing urgent and looming health needs," according to officials. Public Hospitals Authority managing director Herbert Brown said at a press conference on Wednesday that due to severe flooding, a loss of electricity supply, and water and sewerage services, the Eight Mile Rock Clinic is available for emergencies only; all other community clinics in Grand Bahama will remain closed until further notice and the Rand Memorial Hospital is still in the process of resuming normal health care.

Frances may be kinder to the budget
While it is still too early to determine the extent of the damage Hurricane Frances created for the budgetary projections for the current fiscal year, State Minister of Finance is optimistic The Bahamas will weather this storm well. In the 2004/2005 budget communication, the projected deficit was estimate at 2.9 percent of the GDP. This estimation was later revised by James Smith less than a month later to 2.5 percent of the GDP. According to Mr. Smith, even though attempts to determine the potential impact the recovery efforts from the hurricane had already begun, some of the pessimistic assumptions may not be entirely accurate.

Claims rolling in -
The largest property and casualty insurance company in The Bahamas reported that the claims are rolling in and preliminary estimates place losses to the firm at around $250 million. Recently returning from a personal visit to Grand Bahama to get a first hand look at the damage sustained by that island, Patrick Ward, president of Bahamas First General Insurance Company Ltd. disclosed that the bulk of the pay-outs for Frances were expected to go to this island. Claims coming in from Grand Bahama are for major structural, roof and water damage. Bahamas First, controlling an estimated 28 to 30 percent of the property and casualty market had over 500 claims from New Providence and half that amount from Grand Bahama and Abaco over the last 24 hours.