CBN News Views Utter Devastation in Bahamas as Aid Starts to Trickle In

BAHAMAS - Rescue efforts are underway in the hardest-hit areas here in the Bahamas, and basic necessities like food and clean water are slowly being delivered. For the residents here, the nightmare is just beginning.

As this reporter boarded a plane full of supplies headed to the Bahamas, the rough seas were giving way to a sunny day.

We flew over some of the barrier islands on the Abacos, and in there didn't appear to be a single tree on these islands that survived. Surprisingly, there are a few houses that appear to be untouched, but the rest of the houses are almost a total loss. Even the ones that did survive are most likely going to be uninhabitable because all of the infrastructure on the island is gone.

With hundreds of thousands in need of help, relief groups are moving in to prevent a humanitarian disaster. CBN's Operation Blessing is already on the ground in Nassau, preparing to bring in teams to provide medical care, food, clean water and water filtration systems, as well as assess shelter needs.

Operation Blessing's Diego Traverso explains, "We've got a desalination plant that is solar powered that it gonna just plug in and start producing fresh water for the people that need it. We also have other devices like chlorinators that disinfect the water."

Click Here to Help Operation Blessing Provide Relief to Victims of Disaster. 

As we flew over a big oil storage area we could see the tops of some of the big oil tanks have blown off and there's crude oil spread everywhere - just one of many major clean-up projects here.

Our pilot, Dave, has been flying out here for over 30 years, and he's seen plenty of hurricane aftermath, but nothing this bad.

"No. Not even Floyd was, but that was the last one we were all talking about. Floyd came over that same kind of area but no, nothing like this," he says.

Sandy Point on the southern edge of the Abaco Islands is one of the few places where airplanes can land and take off. So a little bit of aid is coming to this place, and there's already a big group of people waiting for it.

Americans are heeding the call for help, but from the air it's clear that this once lush tropical paradise will now take months if not years to recover from Dorian's fury.