FREEPORT, Grand Bahama - For the first time since the passing of Hurricane Dorian, Grand Bahamians can now retrieve their mail from the GB Post Office.

Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson has announced that services for post boxes have been restored to Grand Bahama. While he admitted that work on the physical structure of the post office is still a work in progress, he said he was happy to say that the postal services were up and running.

“Because the post office boxes service is so vital to the community, we had to ensure that at the very least, Grand Bahamians were able to collect their mail,” said Minister Thompson. “We’re pleased that the staff at the post office has been able to receive mail and place them in the various box office boxes.

“We are recommending that if you have a post office box that you do your best to check the boxes now. Many of them may be filled with mail. We’re happy that the public now has this vital service restored to them.”

Lorraine Maycock, Officer in Charge of the Freeport Post Office says it took some time and overcoming some hurdles to get the postal box services up and running again.

She said over 230 bags of mail arrived in from Nassau and has been sorted out by the staff of the post office, including herself. One would have thought that with such a flood of mail coming in at one time, it would have created a backup of getting the mail into the appropriate boxes, however Mrs. Maycock said her staff went above and beyond to get the work done.

“We had mail come in last week Tuesday but we were not opened for the public,” explained Mrs. Maycock. “We all came in, sorted the mail without any power in the building.  Some of the workers went into some of the corners of the mail room, with a flashlight and they sorted the mail. There were no complaints from the staff. We all worked together to get the work done. I myself sorted mail.”

As a result, she said residents can now go in and clear their post boxes.  She added that if for some reason, they have any difficulty in getting the boxes opened, they can let one of the workers at the post office know and they will assist them.

Hurricane Dorian not only brought with it destructive winds of 185 miles per hour, but it also brought in a lot of salt water from the sea and the salt air corroded some of the metal on the post boxes.  Although all of the boxes have been oiled, Maycock said some residents may find that they still have a challenge with accessing their box because of the stiffness from the corrosion.  She said it’s something that a little added dose of WD-40 can easily fix.

Days after the storm had passed, Maycock and her team had set up a tent outside of the Post Office, so that residents could go and retrieve whatever mail was in the boxes before the hurricane hit. In terms of new mail, she said no mail had come in the days following the storm simply because the airport was down as a result of damage.”

However, once mail began arriving on the island, she noted the staff worked hard to make sure that there was no back up.

Power has been restored to the Post Office, but she said the only service that was lagging behind was telegraphed money orders coming in because the system was down. However she said by Monday, BTC is expected to go in and repair the line, so that particular service can be restored.

Mrs. Maycock thanked her staff for their hard work and dedication in helping get the post boxes fixed and for the sorting of mail in a timely manner.”