"At present, about 2,500 people are registered on the government registry (...) of missing persons," said Carl Smith, representative of the Bahamian Emergency Situations Agency (NEMA).
This list has "not yet been compared to government records of people in shelters or evacuees," he said.
According to the spokesman, 5,500 people were evacuated from the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama, the most affected by the Category 5 storm that remained stationed in the area on 1 and 2 September and did enormous damage.
He noted, however, a "significant reduction" in the number of people seeking evacuation from Tuesday.
"Everyone is gone, when they should not have. Unfortunately, we need a lot of arms here to work on repairs, "said Rhonda Hull, an Abaco lawyer. "But people will come back."
The government again authorized commercial flights to Abaco, where the airport had been reopened in the middle of last week. But these flights are "limited" to give priority to emergency aid and evacuations, said the spokesman.
The hurricane left at least 50 dead, 42 in Abaco and 8 in Grand Bahama, according to an official report still provisional. The authorities stressed that the number of victims should increase while search operations for survivors continue in the affected areas.
"We are not going to speculate on the total number," explained Smith, "we understand that people are worried and we are also worried."
Oil vats pierced
According to him, 90% of the infrastructure was damaged between Marsh Harbor and Treasure Cay, 30 km to the north.
The north of the Bahamas archipelago remains in chaos and the emergency phase is not over.
The hurricane spilled two tanks from an oil terminal of the Norwegian company Equinor on the island of Grand Bahama, causing a spill. Equinor said in a statement that it would clean up the affected areas, but that "the situation is complex and difficult, the damage to the infrastructure slowing relief".
In Abaco, electrical installations have been severely damaged and only a few buildings such as the airport, clinic and local administration have power.
The power station at Marsh Harbor, Abaco's main city of more than 15,000, "was completely destroyed," Smith said.
An official with the Bahamas Power and Light power company said electricity could return within three weeks in the southern part of the island of Abaco, little affected by the hurricane. But it will take several months to find a normal situation in the north, he warned.
