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'Only God can make you smile' | Little change 1 month after Dorian devastates Marsh Harbour, Bahamas

Posted at 8:17 PM, Oct 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-08 20:27:53-04

MARSH HARBOUR, Bahamas -- Agape Flights, a Christian-based organization out of Venice, has been delivering Hurricane Dorian relief supplies to the Bahamas for weeks.

They allowed ABC Action News to go on a relief flight with them. First stopping in Marsh Harbour, one of the areas most devastated by Dorian.

"I’ve never seen a movie. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life," said Marc Pierre who survived the storm.

Pierre says he spent the hurricane in the upstairs of a church with many other families.

"I watched the roof take off, the walls tumble down, and the rain drops were like bullets," said Pierre.

A nearly 20-foot storm surge caused storage containers to rollover homes and level an entire community.

"I’m lucky to be alive and sometimes I still pinch myself to make sure I’ve alive," said Pierre.

At an area known as "The Mud," where many Haitian people live, was completely destroyed by the hurricane. There are still more than 1000 people missing, many of them thought to be buried under the rumble or washed out to sea.

Marsh Harbour is nearly abandoned now. Many of the people were rescued and taken to shelters in Nassau.

"It’s been rough. They’re grateful that they’re still alive and they have hope," said William McMorris of Mission of Hope, a disaster relief organization.

But the efforts to clean up are slow because there is so much to do and so little people to do it. Agape Flights has been delivering relief supplies to Mission of Hope to dispute to churches.

"We believe the church is the base of the community. They’re reaching out and know their community better than anybody else," said McMorris.

The people who remain in Marsh Harbour say they are finding hope in all the heartbreak.

"Our job here is to help one another," said Pierre.

"Let me tell you why I’m smiling," said Kelly Pierre, whose home was destroyed by the storm. "Only God can make you smile."