Morton Salt Loses Millions

Hurricane Ike has dealt a massive blow to the economy of Inagua, and with Morton Salt serving as the islands main employer, the "severe" and "almost catastrophic" storm has resulted in the loss of millions for the salt facility.

Managing Director of Morton Salt Bahamas, Mr. Glenn Bannister, told the Bahama Journal Tuesday that damage at the salt plant amounted to millions after the eye of the category four storm passed directly over the island on Sunday morning, causing significant structural damage.

The Morton Salt plant may now be closed indefinitely, Mr. Bannister said. He also noted that infrastructure damage at Morton Salt will have a significant effect on the island’s economy.

"Morton is the main employer of residents on the island and it appears that there will be little work for sometime," he said. "As assessments continue on the plant, the realization of the dollar value for damage continues to increase, which does not bode well for the entire island."

"A hole was blown into the roof of our building over the main office and a lot of water inundated a lot of the office space. The roof of our maintenance shop has been completely destroyed and that will have to be replaced."

Mr. Bannister added that all the electrical equipment at the loading dock was damaged as well as three walkways.

"In addition to that, we also lost all of the electrical apparatus like poles, electrical wiring and transformers out at the plant due to the storm," he said. "Damage would be in the millions at this point as Ike was very powerful and destructive."

"Hanna softened up everything and Ike came behind and finished it off."

The managing director added that he is uncertain of when salt production will continue.

"We are doing assessments right now at the plant and trying to figure out whether we can replace the maintenance building with a temporary building," he said. "We are trying to see how fast we can do this but until we get all the necessary information in, we will not be able to give an exact time as to when the plant will be running."

"I do not know what we are going to do," he said. "The people can’t work and if they can’t work, they can’t get paid and can’t maintain a good living. This is going to have a serious impact on the economy but we are doing everything in our power to be operating as soon as possible."

Mr. Bannister explained that a structural integrity test has been conducted on all the existing buildings to see if it is safe to operate out of them.

"It’s going to be awhile before the island gets back up to speed but we will bounce back," he said. "Bahamians are naturally resourceful people and we can always get on top of things, it may take awhile but we’ll be fine in the long run."

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham along with assessment teams from various government agencies left the capital on Tuesday morning and were expected to tour the island throughout the day.