The town of High Rock on Grand Bahama island, with its secluded, shimmering white sand beaches and stretches of coral reef, has drawn tourists for years.
But after two days of Hurricane Dorian’s pounding winds, sometimes reaching 220mph, it has been reduced almost entirely to rubble.
The category 5 storm was the most powerful hurricane to ever hit the Bahamas and left a trail of destruction and death across its northern archipelago.
Top: A damaged house in High Rock, on the eastern part of Grand Bahama island.
Bottom: The High Rock police station. All photos by Angel Valentin.
Local residents who stayed behind each have their own survival stories.
Some clung to tree branches for days on end; others witnessed their neighbors swept away in the winds. Many were left desperately searching for loved ones who went missing in the storm, with several bodies found and dozens unaccounted for.
The surrounding forests were blasted so hard there are hardly any leaves left on trees. Of the handful of homes still standing, most are without roofs.
Top: Sherman Roberts, 62, takes a break from cleaning a friend’s house.
Bottom: Inside the house of Ishmael Laing, which suffered extensive water damage.
Some residents, including Euridice Kemp, were quick to link the ferocity of hurricane Dorian to the global climate crisis.
Kemp, who returned to the town to salvage what she could from her grandparents’ home, said: “What we’re doing to Mother Earth and the way this turns around on areas like here … I just can’t. Never … never in my life. My heart is broken. I’m in shock.”
Top left: Euridice Kemp outside her grandparents’ destroyed home. Top right: A portrait of her grandparents, Horatio and Hazel Baillou, who survived. Bottom: Residents in a truck going to their homes.
The sheer force of the winds was enough to transform this area for the foreseeable future. Trees that have stood for generations were uprooted. Large structures, including a nearby lighthouse, are partially or completely destroyed.
Many here are only beginning to come to terms with what they have lost. Hardly anyone knows what will happen next: whether to rebuild, or start over.
A destroyed home in High Rock.
