Minister for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Ginger Moxey reflected on the impact of Hurricane Dorian on Tuesday. Monday marked the 6th anniversary since the category 5 storm made landfall in The Bahamas.

Minister Moxey recalled rising flood waters in the area of her home. She said, “we saw all of the water rising, you know, right up the steps and starting to enter the house. And so at that point it was said that ok this is very different.”

Moxey was not a member of parliament when Hurricane Dorian hit Grand Bahama. However, she was able to assist residents through her charity, Seven Hundred Partners. The tedious process in place at that time to get things done as a non profit organization is one of the reasons Moxey created the Collab Program.

She said, “in recognizing what, as a non profit organization, the challenges were I knew that, listen here, it had to be different. We have to first of all appreciate what non profit organizations were doing because had it not been for non profits I’m not sure where we would be today.”

Many residents of Grand Bahama and Abaco have not been seen since the storm. The government enacted the Evidence Act in 2022 which reduced the wait for a person to be declared dead from seven years to two. This new legislation assisted especially the relatives of persons missing in the storm to find closure.

“At that time, the current Prime Minister, Philip Edward Davis, he would have visited Grand Bahama as the Leader of the Opposition at the time and I would have taken him to these individuals who were being impacted. We, at that time said we’re gonna deal with this. As soon as we get into office to ensure that there’s an amendment that allowed this to happen,” Moxey said.

According to the minister the Davis administration has also restore the memorial site in East Grand Bahama, extended the SERZ order and assisted residents with home repairs.