Speaker 1: We're launching this podcast to give you updated headlines and
Speaker 1: stories as we have them from across the Southeast in
Speaker 1: this critical time. I really hope this information is helpful.
Speaker 1: You know, hurricanes are really nothing but anxiety from the
Speaker 1: moment they form somewhere, usually off the coast of Africa,
Speaker 1: as they march across the Atlantic to make landfall over here,
Speaker 1: there as anxiety as we watched them make their pathway
Speaker 1: across the Atlantic. There's more anxieties we worry about our
Speaker 1: homes and our families, and then there's a lot more
Speaker 1: anxiety once the storm passes. How did everyone survive, what
Speaker 1: was damaged? What's done? What do we have to do?
Speaker 1: How are we going to pay for it? There's anxiety
Speaker 1: for the first responders who have to leave their own
Speaker 1: families and their own homes to go out and help us.
Speaker 1: There's even anxiety, yes, for reporters who have to give
Speaker 1: up their houses hope they're okay and hit the road
Speaker 1: and do the same. And there's anxiety from families who
Speaker 1: are worried about loved ones who are right in a
Speaker 1: storm's path. Eloys Thompson Jones is one of those warriors.
Speaker 1: She works with us at I heart radio in Miami,
Speaker 1: but she is from the Bahamas and still has lots
Speaker 1: of family there. She says it was a special place
Speaker 1: growing up as the island girl. It was different from
Speaker 1: living over here. It was really nice and laid back.
Speaker 1: It was not a fast pace like it is over here.
Speaker 1: It's very innocent and it was great. So you still
Speaker 1: have a lot of family on the islands. It's twelve siblings, UM,
Speaker 1: seven brothers and five sisters and they spread out throughout
Speaker 1: the islands, and the main islands were Nassau, Freeport and
Speaker 1: my Shober Aberco. So in my shopber my a, nieces
Speaker 1: and nephews that our families there. During the hurricane, they
Speaker 1: tried to get off the island, but it was too late,
Speaker 1: so they had to stay. They find everyone the closet.
Speaker 1: God find everyone. But two of my nephews were lost
Speaker 1: for a couple of days, so they did find them afterwards, drifted,
Speaker 1: but they found him and that was good. Thank God
Speaker 1: for that. But you have a sibling now who's in
Speaker 1: the hospital. Yes, and Freeport, I have my sister and
Speaker 1: her husband and her two daughters and UM. The house's
Speaker 1: damage during the hurricane. One of the palm trees that
Speaker 1: fell in there and fell on top of her shoulder
Speaker 1: and break a collar bone. But she's recovering. They all
Speaker 1: went to Nassau now, but the powers out and the
Speaker 1: phone mines are down. How are you staying in touch
Speaker 1: with family? Will my other sister communicate and tell me
Speaker 1: all the information over here? You know, she tried not
Speaker 1: to tell me everything. Some of the only sibling Behamian
Speaker 1: sibling over here. I don't have any other family over here, Behman,
Speaker 1: except I Heart radio, so she didn't give me all
Speaker 1: the information my others. So you're using text messages and WhatsApp, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: And she was in Nasa, so it was much better.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't hear from any of my family in
Speaker 1: my Shaba or a Lutheran or on Freeport. You always
Speaker 1: ore you holding up being so far away from them all.
Speaker 1: I got tired of looking at TV given the news
Speaker 1: because it's very depressing how the hurricane was beaten up
Speaker 1: on these islands. So it sounds like all of your
Speaker 1: family members are at least accounting for now. Yes, it
Speaker 1: is a blessing and press with all the help from
Speaker 1: the US and my Heart family help a lot. So
Speaker 1: they're safe now well, being so far removed from all
Speaker 1: those relatives, that must feel good at least to see
Speaker 1: that the country and really the whole world are getting
Speaker 1: motivated and energized to try to help the Bahamas. It's
Speaker 1: a place so many of us have gone to vacation too,
Speaker 1: and love and uh, it must be at least comforting
Speaker 1: to know that you're seeing the world cares will It
Speaker 1: makes me feel really good that they are so helpful
Speaker 1: and loving and caring, you know, and especially coming to
Speaker 1: work and didn't want to come to work. We're not
Speaker 1: knowing what's going on. But after a while when I
Speaker 1: come to work, and with all the help and all
Speaker 1: the care that I see around the world, like you say,
Speaker 1: and especially my heart, that I help in the Bahamian
Speaker 1: my family and the beham At families so much. I
Speaker 1: thank them very much. I know the northern Bahamas sort
Speaker 1: of bore the brunt of all this, but the southern
Speaker 1: Islands and the Bahamas are actually in pretty good shape,
Speaker 1: and they need tourists to come back and spend money
Speaker 1: and invest money and keep people employed, get them jobs
Speaker 1: and keep the economy going, get it, get it back
Speaker 1: on its feet. So what do you want people to
Speaker 1: know about the Bahamas and sort of encourage them to
Speaker 1: continue booking their vacations if if it's allowed. Well, like
Speaker 1: they always say, is better in the Bahamas. It is
Speaker 1: such a beautiful island, islands and also the most beautiful
Speaker 1: blue uh Takewoise water in the world and nothing. If
Speaker 1: you ever want to just go on a vacation and
Speaker 1: to forget about everything else, that's the place to go.
Speaker 1: That's Elois Thompson Jones obviously a proud Bahamian and a
Speaker 1: member of the I Heart media family. And what will
Speaker 1: be next for the Bahamas? Do we make Bahamas two
Speaker 1: point oh? Do we rebuild it the way it was
Speaker 1: or trying to create something entirely different. That's not for
Speaker 1: Americans to decide, but American dollars will have a big
Speaker 1: say in that decision. Mike Gunter is a professor at
Speaker 1: Rollins College and has looked at the future of the
Speaker 1: Bahamas and what happens with climate change. Out of tragedy
Speaker 1: can come great opportunity and you know, we've we've seen
Speaker 1: this in history over you know, the last century, where
Speaker 1: the US has been faced with with high um obstacles
Speaker 1: where you be talking about you know, World War Two,
Speaker 1: the Cold War, in organizing ways that meet the challenge
Speaker 1: and UM address the problem and connect all the different dots.
Speaker 1: This is not This is not a conservative liberal issue. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are reasons to have politic called debate about what
Speaker 1: the policies with the specific policy should be UM. But
Speaker 1: the fact that this is a problem, UM is is
Speaker 1: not a Republican or Democrat, or liberal or conservative issue.
Speaker 1: There's UM. There's real reasons for, regardless of political persuasion,
Speaker 1: for you to be concerned about the fact that while
Speaker 1: no hurricane can be attributed to climate change, the increased
Speaker 1: intensity of hurricanes UM can be Hurricane hurricanes are just
Speaker 1: weather events. UM. You need thirty years of weather data
Speaker 1: to be able to talk about climate and climate change. UM.
Speaker 1: But the fact that these hurricanes are more intense UM
Speaker 1: today is a direct result of climate change. We'll have
Speaker 1: a new episode in a few hours. Until then, hanging
Speaker 1: there and stay safe. I'm Rory O'Neill.