Crews from the National Roads Authority and the Department of Environmental Health spent the greater part of Wednesday cleaning up areas in George Town and West Bay impacted by this week’s strong nor’wester.
Heavy equipment, from mechanical street sweepers to backhoes, were out and about clearing rubble and debris strewn along Seafarers Way and North West Point Road.
Cayman Islands Tourism Association President Troy Leacock said he expects the clean-up and damage assessments to take a couple of days as the rough seas slowly returns to normal.
Leacock said he has been in communication with Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan and the Department of Tourism and has issued a survey to CITA members to assess the impact of the severe weather on local businesses along the coastline.
“We’ve written to our members asking for requests for immediate assistance, whether it’s waste clean-up or whatever, just getting things cleaned. We have visitors on the island and, of course, we have cruise visitors that will hopefully be coming again soon, so we require the road areas in front of sites like the Turtle Farm… to be cleaned up so that the roads are safe to traverse,” Leacock said.
Shocking sight
Leacock said he too is feeling the pain of devastation, like many members of CITA, as his joint business venture Vivo restaurant was obliterated by the waves.
He said he had never seen anything like the conditions he witnessed Tuesday.
“My immediate reaction, especially in the North West Point area, is really shock at the level of devastation. Being in the marine industry, we’re always aware of what weather is on its way and we knew that a no’rwester was on its way, but we didn’t expect to have really the intensity of the wave action, which I think is what caused so much devastation,” he said Wednesday.
“We’ve had northwest winds before, we just really haven’t had that amount of devastation. So I was really quite shocked and surprised at the amount of destruction that we’ve experienced. Quite a few businesses along that stretch were impacted, a lot of tourism-related businesses,” he said.
Staff at the Turtle Centre on North West Point Road were seen power washing the property, while the team at the neighbouring Dolphin Discovery across the street swept away sand and debris from the business entrance.
Over at Lighthouse Point Residences, where ground floor apartments had been inundated with sea water, property managers and air conditioning technicians were assessing damages.
Members of the Detailed Damage Assessment team at the Planning Department were also on site checking for any hazards and structural damage caused by the rough seas.
The National Weather Service, on Wednesday evening, said the pressure gradient across the northwest Caribbean will continue to weaken over the next 24 hours, and though its gale warning for the Cayman Islands has been discontinued, a small craft warning is now in effect.
It has advised all marine vessels to remain in safe harbour until further notice.
Seas will be rough with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet through Thursday.
Related Videos
