THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 |A
sat quietly on one of the small
stubs of foundation left Friday.
“I’ll just start over again.
And thank God for my life,” he
said.
A few people say they clung
to trees for days before the
storm waters receded.
Joey Sands, a 61-year-old
pastor, said he and his 25-
year-old son were blown off
the roof of their home by a
massive wave and each held
tight to the tops of pine trees.
“If there hadn’t been water
there, those trees would have
snapped. The water supported
the trees,” he said.
Eric Baillou, an industrial
mechanic and local council-
man living in High Rock, said
he spent two nights during the
hurricane on the bathroom
floor with his daughter, his
feet kept pressed against the
door for most of two days so
wind wouldn’t blow it over.
The ceiling came down in
other rooms, and a pillow and
blankets line the bathtub
where they have slept.
The storm came just as
many residents were prepar-
ing for peak tourism season.
“Our season starts in about
three weeks,” said Jasmon
Rolle, who was sitting on a
bench near the main road, wait-
ing for food. “Everybody was
hoping to get back to work.”
Some residents, however,
weren’t ready to return to
work. Renee Cooper, who was
rescued from her home by a
cousin, said she wasn’t men-
tally prepared to return to her
work at an immigration con-
sulting firm. “I’m basically
homeless now,” she said.
Javon Pinder said he was
trying to set up a tent in his
yard that could become a base
for supplies and relief for the
neighborhood. But, so far, not
many supplies have come in,
he said.
“I was a bit disappointed
when I saw the bus come up
full of people yesterday, but
with no food and water,” he
said. He said he understands
the difficulties in reaching High
Rock, given the condition of the
roads. He was hopeful more
supplies would arrive soon.HIGH ROCK, The Bahamas—
Pedro Baillou, 37 years old,
spent more than a day in a
mango tree in this small town on
Grand Bahama Island. The water
had risen so high there was no
way to move on the ground.
“It came and swept through
and carried everything in its
path,” said his father, Pastor
Pedyson Baillou, who relayed
his son’s account and waited
out the storm in Freeport.
“That’s life in front of you.”
Hurricane Dorian roared
into the northwestern Baha-
mas as the strongest storm on
modern record to hit the area.
It hovered for days, unleashing
winds up to 185 miles an hour
and drenching communities. It
killed at least 30 people, said
Xavier Knowles, public-rela-
tions officer for the Ministry
of Health, and officials have
said they expect that number
to increase as rescue and re-
covery efforts continue.
On Friday, residents of this
island, among the hardest hit,
were waiting to get out. Some
were waiting for medical at-
tention, and others were wait-
ing for food and water.
A line of cars trying to get
into Freeport Harbor stretched
more than a mile, as residents
waited to get on boats to Nas-
sau and Miami, away from the
devastation left by Dorian.
Some cruise lines were offer-
ing free evacuations to the
many people left homeless.
Residents also waited in
line at the port to retrieve in-
coming supplies, which are be-
ing delivered by cruise ships
and international aid groups
on chartered boats.
U.S. Coast Guard crews,
which had rescued 205 people
in the Bahamas as of early Fri-
day, are continuing to help
with search-and-rescue mis-
sions, area assessments and
logistical support, the Coast
Guard said.
Before Dorian, Freeport was
the main city on this island,
known as a port for luxury
cruise lines, sandy beaches
and shopping. Grand Bahama
has a population of aboutBYWILLPARKERDays of Desperation Grip the Bahamas
CHRISTOPHER LEE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (3)
A woman near the remains of her destroyed home on Grand Bahama Island on Friday. Below, family members comfort each other after seeing the damage to their home.U.S. NEWS
land,” Mr. Cooper said. Many
homes and buildings on the is-
land were still underwater
hours after the storm blew by,
he said.
Helicopters will airlift food
and water to the island and
get evacuees out, the governor
said. A search-and-rescue
team was on the way.
The swipe at the Outer
Banks was a parting shot from
a storm that didn’t cause the
widespread damage U.S. au-
thorities feared after it laid
waste to much of the Baha-
mas. Dorian hovered over the
Bahamas as a Category 5
storm, demolishing towns and
leaving at least 30 people
dead, according to Xavier
Knowles, public-relations offi-
cer for the Ministry of Health.The states of Florida and
North Carolina have reported
four fatalities, all involving
men who died preparing for
the hurricane.
Dorian by late Friday was a
weakened Category 1 hurri-
cane, with sustained winds
nearing 90 miles an hour,
moving away from the coast at
about 24 miles an hour, the
hurricane center said.
About 190,000 power cus-
tomers in the Carolinas and
Virginia were still offline late
Friday as the storm headed
out to sea, according to pow-
eroutages.us, which tracks
outage reports from utilities.
Jill Gunter, who owns the
Sand Dollar Motel on Ocracoke
Island with her husband Rick,
said about 4 feet of water hadflooded the first floor, includ-
ing the suite where they live.
“Our home is gone, the
whole bottom level,” said Ms.
Gunter, 62 years old. “We’re
just like numb.”
She said they didn’t evacu-
ate because they feared not
being able to quickly return to
start cleanup work. “We’ll get
crews in here and try to get
everything cleaned up and
hopefully we will rebuild,” Ms.
Gunter said.
Beyond the small island, the
hurricane ended up mostly
stalking the U.S. coast—rather
than slamming into it.
A Cape Hatteras tide sta-
tion in Pamlico Sound reached
the second highest level on re-
cord Friday, trailing only the
high water mark set by Hurri-cane Matthew in 2016, accord-
ing to a tweet posted by the
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration.
While Dorian made landfall
as a slightly stronger Category
1 storm than last year’s Flor-
ence, it has done far less dam-
age. Florence was slow mov-
ing, allowing the storm to
dump up to 3 feet of rain on
an already rain-saturated
state.
Dorian moved through
faster, and coastal areas vul-
nerable to storm surge bore
the worst of the flooding.
Dorian is forecast to blow
past coastal New England and
make landfall again in Nova
Scotia this weekend.
—Erin Ailworth
contributed this article.WILMINGTON, N.C.—Hurri-
cane Dorian flooded homes
and knocked out power Friday
in North Carolina as the storm
concluded a weeklong tear
along the Southeast coastline.
Ocracoke Island, a barrier
island on North Carolina’s
Outer Banks near where
Dorian made landfall Friday
morning, endured what resi-
dents have called catastrophic
flooding, Gov. Roy Cooper said
late Friday. About 800 people
stayed on the island to ride
out the storm despite an evac-
uation order.
“The hurricane left behind
destruction, where storm
surge inundated Ocracoke Is-BYVALERIEBAUERLEIN
ANDJONKAMPDorian Drenches North Carolina
51,000 people. The Abacos, a
chain of islands with a popula-
tion of about 17,000, also was
hit hard by the hurricane.
High Rock, a community of
roughly 600 people in central
Grand Bahama, is almost entirely
destroyed. Most homes have
been all but erased from the
landscape and the few left stand-
ing reveal mangled interiors.Most residents say they
have heard about 20 of their
neighbors are still unaccounted
for. Many say they have run
low on food and water and
have little certainty of when
more supplies will arrive. A
pallet of fresh water bottles
arrived Friday afternoon.
“Who’s alive, they’re making
the best of what they couldmake. And who’s gone...they’re
just gone,” said Sean Roberts,
who was riding in the back of
a pickup truck to retrieve his
parents and best friend from
their hometown.
William Cooper had lived in
the same home in High Rock
since1956.Itisgonenow.A
carpenter by trade who turns
82 this weekend, Mr. CooperRoyal Caribbean employees loaded supplies Friday for hurricane victims on Grand Bahama Island.WASHINGTON—The Justice
Department launched an anti-
trust investigation into four
auto makers that forged a deal
with California on vehicle-
emissions standards, escalating
a conflict between the Trump
administration and Sacramento
over environmental rules.
Department lawyers are
seeking to determine whether
Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor
Co., BMW AG and Volkswagen
AG broke federal competition
law by agreeing with Califor-
nia to follow tailpipe-emis-
sions standards beyond those
proposed by the Trump ad-
ministration, according to
people familiar with the probe.
California officials branded
the probe a political hit or-
chestrated by a White House
angry over any attempt to
subvert its authority.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Dem-
ocrat, said the state would
push ahead with its plan.
A White House spokesman
referred questions to the Jus-
tice Department, which de-
clined to comment on the ac-
cusations. One of the people
familiar with the investigation
said the Justice Department’s
antitrust division is acting on
its own accord.
The Justice Department
probe is the latest salvo from
an administration that is intent
on curbing California’s influ-
ence on the auto industry. Ford,
Honda and BMW all confirmed
the inquiry after it was re-
ported by The Wall Street Jour-
nal and said they plan to coop-
erate. A Volkswagen spokesman
declined to comment.
The four companies and the
California Air Resources Board
announced the deal in July to
signal support for keeping one,
nationwide emissions standard.
Justice Department officials
believe the agreement could ef-
fectively restrict competition
by potentially limiting the
types of cars and trucks the
auto companies offer to con-
sumers, according to people fa-
miliar with the department’s
thinking. Such an impact of the
deal—potentially cutting pro-
duction of sport-utility vehicles
and crossovers that burn more
gasoline—could cross legal
lines, the people said.
President Trump has
sought to roll back Obama-era
mandates intended to reduce
the auto industry’s contribu-
tion to climate change. Califor-
nia regulators have said they
are willing to ease mandates,
but they don’t want to go as
far as the proposals from the
Trump administration, which
has said it wants to eliminate
all upcoming increases in effi-
ciency requirements.
The administration is chal-
lenging the legal authority
that has given the state de
facto control over environ-
mental regulations for roughly
a third of the U.S. car market.
The Justice Department sent
letters to each of the compa-
nies within the past two weeks
to alert them of the depart-
ment’s interest and to request
information, according to one
of the people familiar with the
matter. The department in the
letters said no conclusions have
been reached, but also said the
deal may have antitrust impli-
cations, the person said.
On Friday, lawyers at the
Transportation Department
and Environmental Protection
Agency sent a letter to Califor-
nia’s top air regulator, Mary
Nichols. It urged her to disso-
ciate the state from the four
auto makers, saying the com-
mitment may result in unde-
fined legal consequences.
Uncertainty over the regu-
lations could hamper car mak-
ers’ ability to design emissions
systems, industry experts say.
Even worse would be two sets
of standards—one for Califor-
nia and another for the rest of
the nation.
—Mike Colias
contributed to this article.
BYTIMOTHYPUKO
ANDBENFOLDY
Probe Into
Emissions
Agreement
Launched
Car makers are
worried about two
sets of emissions
standards.