Nassau, Bahamas – Friday, October 7, 2016 As Hurricane Matthew left flooding and damage in its wake throughout The Bahamas, Cable Bahamas crews and response teams are being activated to deal with the aftermath.
According to John Gomez, COO at Cable Bahamas, “The Company’s emergency response group initiated our emergency plan when the track of Hurricane Matthew approached the southern islands of the Bahamas. Our network extends over 700 miles from Inagua in the southeast Bahamas to Grand Bahama in the northwest, so it is vital that we are prepared for any effect that a storm like this can have anywhere in the country.”
Our free to air systems remained running in many of the smaller islands bringing much needed information about the storm. We are currently waiting reports from other islands. “Systems and networks in the southern islands faired very well considering the storms strength” said John Gomez. Preparations are being made for deployment of repair crews to the southern islands once airports are reopened and access is available. Early reports coming in from other islands including Nicholls’s Town and Fresh Creek Andros, Exuma, San Salvador, Inagua and Long Island are being assessed for network damages and service restoration where applicable.
“In New Providence on Wednesday, October 5th, the company’s hurricane response team was set in motion and began work at 6:00 p.m. that evening.” Gomez continued, “This comprehensive group hunkers down at Cable Bahamas’ command centre on Robinson Road. The group includes specially trained personnel from, technical support, customer relations and the Network Operations Centre. This team continually monitors and manages all of our systems throughout the country, responds to incoming reports, assesses damage, and coordinates the restoration crews in the field.”
Customers throughout the country are experiencing outages that are primarily related to power interruptions and downed distribution lines that are impacted by falling trees. The gusting winds, which blew rain, salt, sand and debris around, will have varying degrees of effect on the company’s systems. By Friday morning, as Hurricane Matthew was moving away from the central Bahamas, CBL technical teams were allowed to survey neighbourhoods in New Providence assessing safety and network issues prior to network restoration activities beginning, once the all clear is given by NEMA.
