Bermuda Premier vows to rebuild Causeway stronger and better

Elbow Beach Hotel's staff employee Randy Wilcott looks at the ruins of the beachfront Mickey's Bistro in the Paget parish of Bermuda. AP photo

Thursday, September 11, 2003

HAMILTON, Bermuda: Bermuda's Causeway, a narrow road linking the East End with the rest of the Island will be completely rebuilt in the future to make it stronger against severe weather such as hurricanes.

So says Premier Mr. Alex Scott, who according to the Royal Gazette, admitted that the road should have been closed as Hurricane Fabian approached on Friday 5th September. The Causeway is still reportedly a traffic nightmare with only single lane traffic allowed during the day. The road will remain closed at night, government said.

Four people were swept off the road as hurricane Fabian battered the island with 120 mph winds. Only one of the four dead have so far been recovered. But Mr. Scott defended his administration, saying simply, "There are lessons to be learned. The next time we have a significant hurricane warning, we will close the Causeway, so no one is out on that thoroughfare in danger in the future."

He added, "The Causeway may be entirely replaced with a completely different structure in future, but we will make sure that the Causeway, as long as it is there, is as safe as possible. We will make every effort to never lose anyone there again."

Meanwhile, Acting Governor of St. Maarten, Mr. Mathias Voges, has forward a letter of solidarity to the government and people of Bermuda following the death and destruction experienced by Hurricane Fabian.

"The people of Bermuda are confronted with the effort of reconstruction. However, we know the spirit of the people of Bermuda remains unbroken during this difficult period," wrote Mr. Voges. 

His comments come as the Cayman Net News reported that between 20 and 32 linesmen were expected to arrive in Bermuda from the Cayman Islands to help carry out pole line repairs.

The workers are being sent as part of the Bermuda utility company, BELCO's reciprocal arrangement with the Caribbean Electric Association, which states, 'when in times of great need workers from each nation's power suppliers will be sent to help.' 

By Sunday afternoon, power had been restored to 11,000 of the 25,000 homes that suffered outages, with all of the main lines expected to be energised yesterday. However, BELCO spokeswoman Linda Smith-Wilson said some homes could be without power for weeks.

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