Naples woman awaits family’s return from Bahamas after hurricane

Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
FILE: Drone footage shows images of destroyed homes after Hurricane Dorian went over northern islands of the Bahamas. Credit: via WINK News.

A woman in Naples is fighting tooth and nail to get her family back to the United States from the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian wreaked havoc upon the northern islands, but there are not a lot of options currently.

Michelle Lewis in Naples said she has been back and forth on I-75 to West Palm Beach waiting for her family to show up. It’s practically been her second home.

“There’s been a lot of red tape,” Lewis said. “There’s been a lot of a false starts where they say we’re going to get them out and we’ve got a confirmation with a flight and then nobody comes.”

Because of that, Lewis isn’t getting much sleep. A majority of her family is still trying to make it home from the Bahamas. She said the Bahamian government is sending people like her immediate family to other islands.

“I’m not sure why they’re doing that and making it more difficult,” Lew is said.

Lewis’ family rode out the storm in Marsh Harbor, which saw destruction as far as the eye can see.

“This one was not anything anybody could’ve ever foreseen,” Lewis said. “And like they’ve said, this wasn’t a five; this was an eight, this is off the scales.”

Lewis said they’re not giving up even though it may take a while to get her family back on American soil. She thinks her dad will be able to return this Saturday, but most of her family will remain on the island. She said the earliest they were told was two to three weeks.

She is concerned because she said resources are running scarce. But she said the silver lining in all of this is that her family is still alive.

“They’ve always been resilient,” Lewis said. “They’ve always rebuilt. They been together and strong.”

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