Dorian survivors rebuild their lives against a backdrop of death

While the dead are counted, survivors wander forlorn among piles of their possessions whipped up and dropped again as the walls and roofs were carried off by gusts up to 220mph.

There are houses that have been tossed from one street to the next and huge yachts that have been dropped on people’s gardens. Golf buggies, a sign of what the island once was, litter the streets miles from the once-prestigious course. In some areas, entire communities have been levelled.

Tourism accounts for 60 per cent of the GDP of the Bahamas, followed by banking spurred by its notoriety as a tax haven. Residents pay no tax on income, capital gains or inheritances.

In some areas, property prices average £4million, most belonging to second home owners from overseas who flit in and out with the seasons.

Sean Connery has a house on nearby Nassau whilst Nicholas Cage, Shakira, Michael Jordan, John Travolta, David Copperfield, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw all own Bahamas boltholes.

But climate change and the intense storms it ferments is blind to celebrity and wealth. On Great Abaco and Grand Bahama, the two islands that took the brunt of Hurricane Dorian’s wrath, the rich are counting their losses and many think it unlikely their multi-million pound properties will ever be rebuilt.

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