Category 3 Hurricane Irene strikes the Bahamas; damage

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• published: 30 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST 1. Wide of heavy surf coming in 2. Mid of waves hitting a house, water rushing onto balcony 3. Various of strong waves 4. Wide of man standing at barrier by the water''s edge, getting hit by a large wave 5. Pan out of damage caused to a canopy in the Straw Market by Irene 6. Wide of store with boarded up windows 7. Mid of car driving slowly along flooded street 8. Various of damage to craft stalls in the Straw Market 9. Pan out of broken tree limb in front of street sign blowing in the wind 10. Zoom in on downed line on shuttered window 11. Pan out of downed tree on street 12. Wide of damaged traffic light flashing red 13. Close of damaged traffic light 14. Various of downed trees lying on streets 15. Various of broken limbs from downed trees 16. Pan out of empty shopping centre with boarded up windows STORYLINE: People in the Bahamas awoke to fierce swirls of wind and rain on Thursday as the powerful hurricane Irene tore through the island chain on its way toward the US eastern coast. Irene caused widespread damage to some of the smaller, lightly populated Bahamian islands, destroying nearly all the homes in one case, but a shift in the storm''s track spared the capital, Nassau. Waves were seen surging along the sea''s edge in Nassau on Thursday, and one curious onlooker was soaked when a large wave crashed over him. Downtown Nassau with its colourful limestone buildings was largely unscathed, but the Straw Market, a well-known shopping spot for tourists, did not survive the night. The canvas roof was torn to shreds and the metal frame damaged, leaving about 600 craft stalls exposed to the wind and rain. Downed trees were also seen on streets around the city, their broken limbs protruding. There was widespread relief at the way the storm turned out in Nassau. The island of New Providence, which is home to more than 200,000 people and some of the most famous resorts in the Bahamas, was a mess of scattered debris. But there was only minor flooding and no major damage. The operating officer of the Emergency Management Agency in the Bahamas said that in New Providence, there were a lot of trees down, homes that had lost shingles on their roofs, as well as power outages, but there were no reports of injuries or deaths anywhere. The situation was much worse on the smaller islands that felt the full power of Irene''s hurricane-force winds. About 90 percent of homes in two settlements known as Lovely Bay and Chesters on Acklins Islands were destroyed and no longer inhabitable, according to the Emergency Management Agency official. A total of about 100 homes were damaged, she said. On the island of Mayaguana, where roughly 250 people live, about 40 homes were damaged, she said. There are also reports of extensive damage on Cat Island, Long Island and Eleuthera, but authorities have not been able to complete full assessments because phone lines have gone down, and conditions were still dangerous on Thursday through much of the islands. Irene is only the third storm since 1866 to cross the entire length of the island chain, and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the country was bracing for extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. But he predicted few casualties overall. The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, warned on Thursday that an extremely dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 7 to 11 feet (2 to 3 meters) above normal tide levels over the Bahamas. On its website, the centre said the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves, and Irene is expected to dump from 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimetres) of rain on the islands over the next day and a half. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0d0d7e169d1fd0eeef4f686a37c1b5b5 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork