TAMPA, FL (WFLA) – Disney is under fire after the company allegedly left their employees in a lurch when Category 5 Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas over the weekend.
The Miami Herald reports a crew of Disney Cruise Line workers were left on a private island the company calls Castaway Cay, as the eye of the hurricane passed just to the north.
After some tweets from worried family members, the company confirmed several of their employees had ridden out the storm and were safe.
“My sister is stuck in the middle of a Cat 5 hurricane. We were told they would evacuate and they didn’t. Left them behind!! Why??,” Meg Green said on Twitter.
“Remember that time [Disney Cruises] left 97 employees on a tiny island in a Catagory 5 hurricane? I do,” Green said in another tweet.
“I understand your concern, as they are our co-workers. Castaway is south of the more significant weather. [Disney Cruise Lines] is in regular contact with island leadership and all are safe. Forecast calls for tropical storm force winds, which is what is there now. There are extensive measures in place to keep crew safe. A shelter on the island houses all crew and is stocked with a plentiful supply of food and water,” Kim Prunty, Disney’s vice president of communications and public affairs, told Green on Twitter Sunday night.
Green replied: “Why risk the lives of 97 staff members? They had plenty of time to evacuate, but the decision was made to stay.”
A spokesperson for Disney explained that they would have to use both boats and planes to evacuate staff, which would have made things difficult. They said there was no need to send people away since there was a hurricane shelter on the island, which was built to withstand Category 4 conditions, according to the newspaper.
“Castaway Cay remains south of the more significant weather and is currently experiencing tropical-storm-force winds, which based on the current forecast, are expected for the next several hours before gradually diminishing,” Disney later said in a statement.
Castaway Cay, originally known as Gorda Cay, is just off the southern end of Great Abaco Island. About 60 Disney workers live there year-round, according to the company’s website.