VOLUNTEERS from a Chilmark-based disaster response charity are on the ground supporting communities in the Bahamas after a devastating hurricane hit the region.

Team Rubicon UK has deployed 11 volunteers and one member of staff with further teams expected be deployed.

On September 1 Hurricane Dorian hit Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands, Bahamas as a category 5 hurricane. Winds of 295 km/h were recorded, the strongest on record.

The charity says large parts of the islands have been wiped out with widespread devastation. Thousands of houses have been levelled, telecommunications towers are down, and water wells and roads have been damaged.

Team Rubicon UK has teams in Grand Bahama and Abaco who are helping with the distribution of aid. The teamswill be setting up “logistic hubs” to help get aid to the areas most in need.

The charity is also working with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other humanitarian organisations in Nassau.

Team Rubicon UK’s operations director Ben Lampard said: “What we are seeing at the moment is a lot of aid coming in but it’s just being completely uncontrolled.”

He added: “From speaking to them [the team], they are saying it is horrendously chaotic on the islands. Particularly on Abaco you’ve got all of that destruction and you have got a lot of very wealthy do gooders who own private yachts and aircraft that are flying in aid but it is not necessarily the right aid and it’s not necessarily going to the place that really needs it.

“Our teams are trying to bring some sort of order to the chaos and try and identify where the need is greatest and try and co-ordinate that chaos and get aid in and distributed to the right places. That is what they are fighting through at the moment with limited communications and not a great ability to move around the island. But they are doing what they are trained to do and doing a good job.”

The charity is flying out another team of volunteers who are expected to arrive today and will be deployed to Marsh Harbour, which is another other badly hit by the hurricane.

The charity anticipates its volunteers will be in the Bahamas for eight weeks, helping the country get back on its feet.It urgently needs to raise £250,000 to fund the initial six-week mission.

“Funding is key for us to be able to respond,” said Ben. “We’ve raised just enough to get this first wave out. We assess to be able to respond now for at least the next month to six weeks.

“People’s contribution will have a direct impact to enable us to launch more teams and get them out on the ground.”

To donate go to teamrubiconuk.org or text Dorian to 70085 and the donation amount.